Pubdate: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2005 The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456 Author: Louise Brown, Education Reporter Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) USER FEES SLASHED AT SCHOOLS Catholic Board Reduces Cost Of After-Hours Use Community Workers Say Move Will Help Teens Youth worker Wayne Lewis will have more money -- thousands of dollars more -- to help teens in Toronto's troubled Rexdale neighbourhood stay out of drugs and crime now that he doesn't have to pay fees for the schools they use. "We had to spend sometimes the equivalent of a small down payment on a house -- up to $15,000 -- just to book school space through the year to run our programs," said Lewis. Yesterday, the Toronto Catholic District School Board scrapped weeknight permit fees at seven schools in low-income areas and substantially reduced fees at the rest of its 202 schools. The costs will be picked up instead by Queen's Park, as part of a $20 million program to help school boards pay for after-hours caretakers and heating. The cost of renting a gym, for instance, is now $10 on weekdays and $5 on weekends, down from $25; a classroom rental is $2 instead of $10. The fee changes are retroactive to September; groups that paid higher fees in the interim will get refunds. "Now we'll have more money to keep kids off the 6 o'clock news for the wrong reasons," said Lewis, whose charitable program Hopes Are High runs after-school homework clubs, sports teams and leadership programs at Marian Academy, a high school in Etobicoke. Ontario has given $826,645 to Toronto's Catholic board to lower or eliminate user fees. "We want to return Ontario schools to their rightful role as the hub of the community, by opening their doors after hours and making them affordable and accessible," said MPP Jim Bradley, minister of tourism and recreation yesterday. For decades, non-profit groups across Ontario were able to use school pools, gyms, fields and classrooms for a nominal fee, but former premier Mike Harris brought in a new funding formula that gave schools no money for after-hours programs. Instead, boards had no choice but to pass on the cost of after-hours use, which priced many community programs beyond the reach of the public. According to the government, Ontario school boards collected more than $29 million in rental fees in 2003-04, a 138 per cent increase over the $12.2 million in fees they collected in 1998-99. Community workers hailed the move to cut fees yesterday. Sports co-ordinator Peter Jones, for instance, will be able to lower fees for the 1,000 teens, many of them from working-class families, who play on the Scarborough Basketball Association community teams. Jones said team fees for gym use had jumped to $500 from $100, "posing a tremendous burden on lower-income families. This news today is tremendous." Bradley unveiled details of the grant yesterday at Scarborough's St. Gabriel Lalemant Catholic School in the high-needs Malvern neighbourhood. The government is finalizing a similar deal with the Toronto District School Board, he said, and has signed deals already with 28 other school boards. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek