Ontario Building New Replacement School in Aurora
Province’s investment in innovative and modern learning spaces will ensure students have high quality education in a safe and healthy environment
NEWS – August 31st, 2023
As part of the province’s ongoing efforts to build and improve local schools, the Ontario government has provided the York Region District School Board with approval to award the tender for a new replacement Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School. The new school will be located closer to emerging residential development while the existing Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School building will be used to consolidate nearby regional educational centres into one site. This is supported by an investment of $67.5 million.
Once completed, this project will deliver 1212 secondary spaces for local families. The investment is part of Ontario’s commitment to providing approximately $15 billion to support school construction, repair, and renewal over 10 years. Since 2018, the government has approved nearly 200 school construction projects and the development of more than 300 childcare and education building-related projects, of which more than 100 are actively under construction.
“The funding for a new Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School in Aurora is great news for our community,” said Dawn Gallagher-Murphy, MPP for Newmarket-Aurora. “This investment will ensure families and students have access to a quality learning environment in the years ahead.”
Additionally, Ontario is taking action to ensure that school board capital assets are used effectively and efficiently to meet the needs of growing communities, support student learning and ensure value for taxpayer dollars. The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act will empower decision-makers to build modern schools faster by better utilizing school capacity, reducing barriers for school boards to facilitate agreements for schools in multi-use buildings such as condo towers, and shortening planning time by requiring school boards to use certain designs or plans when constructing, renovating, or making additions to schools.
“We are determined to build schools and expansions faster, part of our commitment to modernize schools in fast growing communities,” said Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education. “We are proud to deliver a new, state-of-the-art Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School for Aurora families, along with increasing funding, staffing and a back-to-basics focus on reading, writing and math skills to help ensure students graduate with confidence that they can succeed in good-paying careers.”
Highlights of the project include:
“Under Premier Ford’s leadership, we’re building more state-of-the-art schools to support the needs of Ontario’s students, families and growing communities. By investing in innovative and modern learning spaces, we’re ensuring students have access to the quality education that will provide them with lifelong skills and education in a safe and healthy environment,” said Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure. “These investments are one of the ways we’re delivering on our promise to build Ontario, with an infrastructure budget of more than $148 billion over the next decade.”
“Funding for new schools helps us to better meet the needs of our communities, such as the growing community in Aurora,” said Ron Lynn, Chair of the York Region District School Board. “Today’s announcement of a replacement Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School will ensure that York Region District School Board is able to continue delivering high quality programming to students in a modern and welcoming learning environment.”
The new Dr. GW William Secondary School will be located at 11 Spring Farm Road in Aurora.
The current Dr. G.W. Williams School is located at 39 Dunning Avenue in Aurora.
Quick Facts:
- Since 2018, the Ontario government has invested over $2.2 billion in capital projects in education, including 100 new schools, 88 additions and renovations to existing facilities and nearly 6,500 new licensed childcare 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.
- In April 2023, Ontario introduced The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act that will ensure the public education system focuses on what matters most: important life-long skills such as reading, writing and math; improve accountability and transparency for parents and families; and build schools faster while better utilizing current school spaces to get more classrooms into communities that need them.
- In March 2022, the Governments of Canada and Ontario signed a $13.2 billion agreement that will lower childcare fees in stages for families, delivering an average of $10 a day child care by September 2025.