Peggy Sattler MPP, London West

QUEEN’S PARK - MPP Peggy Sattler (London West) called on the government to commit to funding new schools in London West in question period on Thursday. She released the following statement:
 
“Students in London deserve small class sizes and high quality school environments to learn in, not the overcrowded classrooms and long bus rides they are currently getting. I’m hearing from parents who are frustrated and upset that children are bussed out of their own neighbourhoods because their local school has no space for them, and are being denied the chance to learn in their own community and attend the school a few minutes walk away.
 
Sir Arthur Currie Public School in Northwest London was built only four years ago, but today has 22 portables on site. The school was at capacity almost the day it opened, and now it’s bursting at the seams with double the number of students it was built for. The Thames Valley District School Board is planning two new schools in Northwest London alone to accommodate rapid area population growth and alleviate some of the pressure.

Parents are concerned about the safety and learning of their children in overcrowded schools and school-based childcare centres, and they are frustrated by the short-sighted and fiscally irresponsible funding formula used by both Liberal and Conservative governments, which guarantees ongoing chronic overcrowding in high growth areas like Northwest London.
 
I am calling on this government to not only approve the new schools that the Thames Valley District School Board has been clear are urgently needed by London West families, and also to ensure that new school funding actually alleviates the overcrowding in London classrooms. London students deserve much better.”