Ontario Expanding St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Windsor

Province more than doubles funding to build new schools and expand existing schools faster

News                                                                                                                                                        May 21st, 2024

Windsor, ON – Andrew Dowie, Member of Provincial Parliament for Windsor—Tecumseh, announced today that the Ontario government is investing $3.7 million to expand St. Joseph’s Catholic High School. This will support the creation of 184 new student spaces at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School and is part of the government’s commitment to building state-of-the-art learning spaces for Ontario students.

This project is part of the Ontario Government’s $1.3 billion plan that more than doubles funding to build new schools and expansions, including child care spaces, announced by Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education, as part of the Capital Priorities Program. 

“St. Joseph’s is an integral part of East Riverside community, and the growth and vitality of the school are a reflection of its incredible learning environment,” said MPP Dowie. “I was happy to add my voice in support of this key investment in my riding and am delighted to see this approval come through.

The overall investment, which is the highest ever made in a single year, supports the creation of more than 27,000 new student spaces and more than 1,700 licensed child care spaces at schools across Ontario. 

“Our government is more than doubling the funding to build new schools, which represents the single largest investment in school building in Ontario history,” said Minister Lecce. “We are stepping up with a massive investment to build the homes, schools, and communities our province needs, and to ensure children have access to state-of-the-art schools close to home that gives them real life and job skills to succeed in the future.I want to reiterate my thanks to MPP Andrew Dowie for his relentless advocacy for local families.”

Ontario’s government unveiled a new plan to build faster, including providing school boards with more flexibility and support to get shovels in the ground quicker and have more options to use existing buildings in their communities. These changes are part of the government’s plan to ensure that the public education system focuses on what matters most: important life-long skills such as reading, writing and math; improving accountability and transparency for parents and families; and maximizing capital assets.

“Our government is investing in new schools and improved infrastructure across the province to support the needs of Ontario’s students, families, and growing communities.” said Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure. “These are part of our historic investment of more than $190 billion over the next ten years to build and deliver the critical infrastructure Ontarians deserve today, and for future generations to come.”

The 2024 Budget: Building a Better Ontario continues to support the province’s work being delivered in theBetter Schools and Student Outcomes Act to build schools faster and better use taxpayer-funded assets. 

“The $3.7 million in Ministry funding will allow the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board to construct an eight classroom addition at St. Joseph’s,” said Fulvio Valentinis, Chair of the Board of Trustees.

“This is wonderful news for the students and staff at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School,” Valentinis said. “The school was designed for about 1,100 students when it opened in 2006, and current enrollment is more than 1,300. So we’re grateful for this funding, we certainly appreciate the support from MPP Dowie, and we’re looking forward to getting started on this project soon.”

QUICK FACTS

  • In December 2023, the Ministry of Education announced Ontario’s plan to help build schools faster through a transparent, accountable and more efficient process. In the recent Capital Priorities round, school boards were encouraged to standardize the design of new school construction, identify opportunities to work together on joint-use school projects, and bring forward shovel ready proposals. 
  • Since 2018, the Ontario government has invested more than $3.6 billion in capital construction projects in education, including 139 new schools, 109 additions and renovations to existing facilities, creating more than 98,000 student spaces and over 8,000 new licensed child care spaces. 
  • For the 2023-24 school year, the province is providing school boards with approximately $1.4 billion in funding to revitalize and renew aged building systems and components. 
  • The investment is part of Ontario’s commitment to provide about $16 billion to support new school construction, repair, and renewal over 10 years. 
  • The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023 ensures the public education system focuses on what matters most: teaching important life‑long skills such as reading, writing and math; improving accountability and transparency for parents and families; maximizing capital assets of boards to support building modern schools faster and better utilizing current school capacity.
  • Ontario secured a $13.2 billion agreement with the federal government that will lower fees for families to an average of $10 a day for children under the age of six under the Canada‑wide Early Learning and Child Care system. 

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MEDIA CONTACT:                                                                                                  
Mike Lesperance
Special Assistant,
Andrew Dowie,
MPPWindsor-Tecumseh
Ph: 519-251-5199 Cell: 226-724-3629
Email: michael.lesperance@pc.ola.org