School closure ban means Ontario boards spending limited funds to keep buildings open: docs [Video]

The Ford government’s refusal to listen to a request from the province’s largest board to close and consolidate schools is forcing educators to spend money on buildings that would otherwise be shuttered, internal government documents admit, at the same time that the number of boards posting annual losses grows substantially.

Government briefing documents written for Ontario’s education minister at the beginning of the summer say a moratorium on closing schools, in place since 2017, is stretching already thin school board budgets.

“Ongoing moratorium means boards are spending their limited school renewal funding on maintaining and operating schools that may otherwise have closed,” reads one line of the internal documents, obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws.

The admission comes just months after the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) sent a letter to the Ford government, begging to be allowed to shutter schools where needed in the face of …