The province is allowing schools boards to start collecting education development charges (EDC) again, but at a “modest” rate.
After ordering a freeze last fall on the rate of EDCs — collected from developers as school boards’ only means of funding the purchase of new school sites — the Ministry of Education announced this week boards will have the “ability to propose modest EDC rate increases while the government continues to review the EDC policy framework,” according to a ministry memo.
The change will replace the current cap on rates and allow boards to collect a maximum annual increase of the greater of five per cent or $300 per residential unit and no more than five per cent for non-residential rates.
The Simcoe County District School Board and the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board work together to determine EDC rates.
When they started the process last year, the EDC bylaw hadn’t been updated in five years, so an increase of 300 per cent was being proposed to allow the boards to catch up. That’s when the ministry stepped in and halted the process while it conducted a province-wide review.
Jodi Lloyd, chair of the public school board, said the two boards will likely meet in May to amend the current bylaw. If it passes, it will come into effect five days later.
“This is not going to address the complete deficit, but it is a move in the right direction,” Lloyd said. “Boards are going to be faced in the future with addressing the increase in enrolment and the increase in (Simcoe County’s) population.”
The public board is currently collecting only 30 per cent of what it feels will be required in EDCs to allow it to purchase needed school sites.
There is speculation that the province could revise the entire EDC process. Whatever the outcome, Lloyd hopes it doesn’t hinder the boards’ ability to provide adequate space for the additional students it is expecting in the coming years.
A date has not yet been set for the meeting to amend the EDC bylaw. The current bylaw expires at the end of October.
