It’s great to see provincial investment flowing into Milton District High School. Adding 412 new student spaces and 88 licensed childcare spaces is a welcome win for our growing community.
As I mentioned recently, about 18% of our local property tax bill goes directly to the Province to fund school boards. It’s vital that those tax dollars actually return to Milton as investments like this one.
But as the Province pushes for rapid housing growth, this announcement brings up an important issue: we need to build school capacity proactively, not reactively.
Milton consistently beats its housing targets. Historically, though, school funding approvals lag way behind residential development. That leaves families dealing with overcrowding, endless portables, and disruptive boundary adjustments. A new school addition is fantastic, but social infrastructure should be built in tandem with housing—not years after families have already moved in.
It is also important to remember that a building expansion does not happen in a vacuum. Adding hundreds of student and childcare spaces relies entirely on the underlying Regional infrastructure. That means safe integration into our regional road networks and having the capacity to connect to the Region’s $15.5 billion water and wastewater system.
Technical experience matters at the Regional Council table. We need leadership that moves past the standard political announcements and understands the data. We have to work across all levels of government to ensure our infrastructure and school capacity are planned together, from day one.
Growth has to be matched with proactive planning.