With the new school year just weeks away, the Ontario government announced that it is opening 35 new and expanded schools ahead of September. The province said the projects are backed by more than one billion dollars in investment aimed at students and families across Ontario.
The announcement was delivered by the Minister of Education, who framed the spending around classroom outcomes. The minister said the focus was clear: putting student achievement first and giving every student the opportunity to succeed in the coming year.
The minister made the announcement at the newly built St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Elementary School in Brantford, which is among the schools set to open for the new academic year. The choice of venue put a freshly completed building at the center of the province's back-to-school message.
That school alone is expected to welcome more than 500 students in September. Beyond its classrooms, the site will also provide close to 50 licensed childcare spaces, addressing both school enrolment and early childcare demand in the community.
Looking at the province as a whole, the government said the new and expanded schools will allow for more than 18,000 new student spaces across Ontario. The additional capacity is intended to relieve pressure in areas where enrolment has been growing.
Of the 35 new and expanded schools, four are located in Toronto. That places a portion of the investment in the province's largest city, alongside communities such as Brantford where the flagship announcement took place.
The timing of the announcement, coming only a few weeks before the back-to-school period, allowed the government to highlight its capital spending on education infrastructure. The province cast the 35 projects as a push to expand access as families prepare for the September return to classes.