Ontario Government Building New School in Oshawa
Province gives approval to award the tender for a new Unnamed North Oshawa Public School
Oshawa January 20, 2023
As part of Ontario’s ongoing efforts to build and improve local schools, the province has provided the Durham District School Board with approval to award the tender for a new Unnamed North Oshawa Public School. This is supported by an investment of $22.2 million, which includes additional funding of $3.8 million.
The Government of Ontario is delivering more than $26.6 billion in education funding for the 2022-23 school year, including an increase of over $600 million in September 2022, which is the highest investment in public education in Ontario’s history. Investing in the province’s schools is an integral part of Ontario’s Plan to Catch Up, which is squarely focused on the priorities of parents and includes five key components:
- Kids being back in the classroom, on time with a full school experience that includes extracurriculars like sports, band and field trips;
- Investing more than $175 million for enhanced tutoring support programs delivered by school boards and community partners, with a focus on reading, writing and math;
- Updating the curriculum to prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow, including opportunities in the skilled trades;
- Providing more money to build schools and improve education; and
- Allocating $90 million – the highest amount in Ontario history, and a 420 per cent increase from 2017-18 – to support student mental health.
Once completed, this project will deliver 536 elementary spaces and 73 childcare spaces for local families. The investment is part of the Ontario government’s commitment to providing $14 billion to support school construction, repair, and renewal over 10 years. Since 2018, the government has approved nearly 200 school construction projects and the development of more than 300 childcare and education building-related projects, of which more than 100 are actively under construction.
“The funding for a new Unnamed North Oshawa Public School is great news for our community,” said Todd McCarthy, MPP for Durham. “This investment will ensure families and students have access to a quality learning environment in the years ahead.”
“Our government is investing $14 billion over ten years to build new schools, improve existing facilities and create childcare spaces to ensure young people can reach their full potential,” said Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education. “By building the new state-of-the-art Unnamed North Oshawa Public School, as well as investing in tutoring and mental health supports for the year ahead, we are getting students in Oshawa back on track now and well into the future. While we make progress building this new elementary school in Oshawa to support hard-working parents, we remain committed to keeping students in class in more normal classrooms with extra curriculars, sports, and clubs.”
“This investment in our schools will allow us to create the educational framework to support our growing community and ensure that every student in Durham has access to the tools and opportunities they need to thrive,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, MPP for Pickering-Uxbridge.
“Under Minister Lecce’s leadership, our government is delivering more schools in Oshawa and other parts of the Region of Durham to support the needs of students, families and growing communities,” said Lorne Coe, MPP for Whitby. “By building schools faster, we’re ensuring that students reap the benefits of state-of-the-art learning facilities sooner and have access to education in a safe and healthy environment.
“The Ministry of Education’s funding for a new Unnamed North Oshawa Public School is one of many investments our government has made in Ontario schools,” said Patrice Barnes, MPP for Ajax. “Our top priority is to ensure that our children are educated in safe, well-maintained, school environments that prepare them for future success.”
“Under Premier Ford’s leadership, we’re building more state-of-the-art schools to support the needs of Ontario’s students, families, and growing communities. By investing in innovative and modern learning spaces, we’re ensuring students have access to the quality education that will provide them with lifelong skills and education in a safe and healthy environment,” said Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure. “These investments are one of the ways we’re delivering on our promise to build Ontario, with an infrastructure budget of more than $148 billion over the next decade.”
Highlights of the project include:
- 536 new student spaces
- 73 new childcare spaces
- 4 new childcare rooms
“The approval of the new North Oshawa PS is great news for families, and we are grateful for the local work and advocacy that helped make this possible. It will better serve our growing community and we sincerely look forward to seeing it open its doors to future students and families. Building learning environments, like this one in North Oshawa, that support student achievement and well-being puts our students on a strong path to learning and success,” said Deb Oldfield, Shailene Panylo, and Linda Stone, Trustees for Oshawa.
The Unnamed North Oshawa Public School will be located at Windfields Farm Drive West and Wintergrace Avenue in Oshawa.
Quick Facts:
- Since 2018, the Ontario government has invested over $2.0 billion in capital projects in education, including 100 new schools, 88 additions and renovations to existing facilities and 6,410 new licensed childcare spaces.
- For the 2022-23 school year, the province is providing school boards with $1.4 billion in funding to renew and maintain existing schools.
- Through the COVID-19 Resilience Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, the governments of Canada and Ontario are providing $656.5 million in funding for critical infrastructure projects to protect students and staff from COVID-19 in the province’s schools.
- In March 2022, the Governments of Canada and Ontario signed a $13.2 billion agreement that will lower childcare fees in stages for families, delivering an average of $10 a day childcare by September 2025.