Funding hard to find for playground projects at TDSB schools

WATCH ABOVE: While the TDSB pays for new artificial turf at Runnymede Public School, parents are footing the bill for playground equipment. Mark McAllister reports.

TORONTO – New artificial turf being installed at Runnymede Public School has the Bloor West community looking at who should be funding what projects in the area.

The sod that existed in the playground for the near 100-year-old school was being replaced frequently because it could never be properly maintained.

“The TDSB would install grass and a few years later it was a mud pit,” local city councillor Sarah Doucette said.

“It was a dust bowl. It was awful.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It was a dust bowl. It was awful."

Considered a priority project, the Toronto District School Board decided to install and pay for artificial turf this year.

Meanwhile, the school’s parent council thought the 1,000 students there needed a playground, instead of just concrete on the remaining property.

A fundraising campaign was launched with as goal of $225,000 to $250,000 to pay for an approved plan.

“The TDSB doesn’t have money to do many playgrounds,” Doucette said. “In my days, they were doing seven or eight playgrounds a year.”

At issue for some is the need for parents to come up with the cash and, when they do, what that leaves for other schools where families can’t afford to fundraise.

In an exchange on Twitter, Doucette and others recently discussed the difficulties for some communities to get the money needed for school yard projects.

“To allow those schools who can fundraise,” Elizabeth Lines said. “There’s got to be some mechanism to let some of those funds to flow to schools that need it.”

Money could be made available from the city through Section 37 funds, but Doucette claims it would mean putting special clauses into a shared use agreement between the TDSB and the city.

Section 37 provides funding to community projects from developers building in the immediate catchment area.

City funding would then allow for public use but maintaining sites on school property would be the responsibility of the board.

The new turf at Runnymede Public School is expected to be ready for the start of the school year and available for students to use right away.

Editor’s Note: The story as originally posted states that a fundraising campaign run by parents at Runnymede P.S. had reached its goal of $125,000 for a new playground. That was the original goal for the campaign, however money is still being raised and the total amount needed would be $225,000 to $250,000.