Queen's Park – Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop announced today that four school boards representing Simcoe County students will receive $886,920 in funding for school renewal.

"This funding will help provide students with quality school facilities," said Dunlop. "It allows our school boards to start immediately with needed repairs and renovations."

The funding is the school boards' share of $25 million announced in the 2002 Ontario Budget for school renewal. The boards will determine their own priorities for use of this funding, but must use their allocation for repairs and renovations.

This ongoing funding is in addition to the $241 million already committed to school renewal for the upcoming school year through the student-focused funding model. It increases province-wide funding for school renewal in the next school year by more than 10 per cent to a total of $266 million.

"Providing students with a quality education is a priority for our government," said Dunlop. "We will continue to work with school boards and other education partners to ensure that our students benefit from quality, well-maintained schools."

The government has also launched a two-year plan to carry out school inspections to assess school repair and renovation needs across the province. As well, the Education Equality Task Force, as part of its review of the funding formula, will make recommendations on ways to address the need for school renewal and will examine the cost benchmarks for pupil accommodation grants. The Task Force will deliver its recommendations to the government this fall to be considered for the 2003-04 school year.