Roughly one in 12 schools in Ontario have the same roof panels that forced the Ford government to urgently close the science centre but, according to internal documents, boards and trustees are being offered no specific funding to manage the cost of replacement and repair.
The Ministry of Education says that eight per cent of all schools in Ontario have Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete — or RAAC — panels in their roofs, the same material that led the government to close the Ontario Science Centre in June fearing “potential roof panel failure due to snow load.”
Despite that, internal government briefings prepared for the minister of education show the province hasn’t opened any new funding streams for school boards and trustees to fix their buildings and remove the problematic panels.
Ministry of Education documents obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws say RAAC is “weaker than traditional concrete” and lay out that the province is “working with boards to ensure mitigation plans are in place.”
The documents admit, however, that even with the apparent gravity of the discovery “this issue has not been accounted to date in renewal needs” across the province.
Ontario NDP education critic Chandra Pasma said the fact the province isn’t urgently addressing RAAC in eight per cent of its schools suggests the issue may not be as urgent as officials said when they closed the Ontario Science Centre.
“If they really took the concrete safety issue seriously, then we would be seeing an emergency infusion of money to address that repair,” she told Global News.
“And the fact that we’re not suggests the government doesn’t believe it’s that much of an emergency. If it wasn’t safe for our kids to go to the science centre, it shouldn’t be safe for them to go to schools with the same kind of roofs.”
Earlier this year, within days of receiving a report confirming aging RAAC panels in the Ontario Science Centre’s roof, the Ford government decided to shutter the building.
The decision was announced just hours before the Ontario Science Centre closed its doors for the last time.
An engineering report commissioned by the government found “serious structural issues with the Ontario Science Centre building that could materialize as early as this winter,” particularly the RAAC panels in the roof.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Education said school boards had “always been required” to actively monitor and maintain RAAC panels as part of regular renewals and roof replacement.
“In 2023, our government took proactive steps and asked boards to conduct a deeper dive which found across the province, 8% of schools identified as having RAAC,” they told Global News.
“We will continue to work with school boards to support remediation plans and encourage them to fully spend the $1.4 billion in renewal funding we provide them each year.”
The government also shared a memo dated November 2023, more than half a year before the science centre closure, ordering schools to take a look at roof panels.
“Out of an abundance of caution and to ensure the continued provision of safe and healthy learning environments for students and staff, the ministry is requesting all school boards implement an investigation, assessment, and management strategy for RAAC within their buildings,” part of the memo read.
“As a reminder, for the 2023- 24 school year, the ministry continues to provide an annual allocation of approximately $1.4 billion. This funding can be used to address RAAC related issues. It is the board’s responsibility to determine how to allocate renewal funding to its schools based on local needs.”
The same government documents discussing RAAC panels also showed that the average age of a school in Ontario is 40 years old, and admitted an increasing number of school boards were posting deficits, partly because they were forced to keep older buildings open because of a ban on school closures.