In 2018, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) staff
estimated the cost of air conditioning all its schools at roughly $400 million
— so, nearly $500 million in 2025 dollars — plus millions more in annual maintenance and electricity bills. It described the task as “virtually impossible.” Last week, the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) staff
pegged the cost to air condition its own schools at $200 million
, while describing the job as only “relatively impossible.”
By rights, those numbers — which you can safely double to get nearer the actual cost — would put the issue to bed. But they are back in the news because it was quite hot in southern Ontario and Quebec for two days this week. And some people are remarkably passionate about a lack of air conditioning, at least once or twice a year. “(Students) have to endure real harms to their well-being,”
. “A temperature-safe environment should be a given. A right,”
.
But surely all would agree the TDSB, HWDSB and every other Canadian school board has far bigger priorities than saving students and staff a few days of discomfort in late June and early September. Certainly our Junes and Septembers are getting warmer on average, but the temperatures we saw in Toronto this week — a high of 35 C on Monday and Tuesday — were not unprecedented in the time before air conditioning.
We coped. We should be able to cope even better now that we don’t have to live all day long in the sweltering heat: Even if we don’t have air conditioning at home, there are public places to go for a break.
I can just hear people saying, “nothing is too expensive for our kids.” If nothing were too expensive for our kids, relatively wealthy parents wouldn’t be
donating all sorts of supplies
to their kids’ public schools. (Ironically, one of the things parents
can’t
donate is air conditioners. The board cites concerns over the electricity supply and — more dubiously — proper installation.)
In real life, money is finite. And there would be tremendous opportunity costs to spending $500 million (or likely far more) on alleviating a few days of moistened brows, not even once every year. You don’t have to think $500 million is a reasonable estimate — it probably isn’t — but you should be 100 per cent sure it would get spent.
The TDSB pays $150 to install a pencil sharpener
, for heaven’s sake.
I was curious how the media covered Toronto’s all-time record heat wave, in 1936. “Heat toll 22 dead; mercury reaches 103.7 (F),” was the Toronto Daily Star’s banner headline on July 10. We have a right to live better than we did in 1936 — and we do! — but perhaps that puts things in some perspective.
The Star’s front page that day featured a photo of a barefoot, overheated urchin making puppy-dog eyes at the camera. “For the fourth day in a row the children are today suffering almost unbearable torture and agony from the hottest sun that has ever struck Toronto,” the caption read. “Older children seek some relief by filling tubs with water and standing in it. When it gets too warm they dump it on the ground. Then the younger children stamp around in the discarded water for a few seconds before it disappears into the parched earth.”
If that sounds just a tad melodramatic — it
is
the Star, after all — the cause was unimpeachable: It was a request for donations to the newspaper’s Fresh Air Fund, which sends kids who couldn’t otherwise afford it to summer camp. It’s still going today, and it’s a fine charitable endeavour.
In 2023, the fund spent $1.2 million
sending
“more than 20,000 underprivileged children”
to overnight and day camps. Imagine how many kids $500 million, or some portion of it, could send for two weeks in the bush.
They would be unlikely to return complaining about the lack of air conditioning in their cabins and tents, let alone those two sweaty days in class back in June.
There are other possible solutions here, of course. We could shorten the school year by eliminating March Break, shortening the Christmas break, or extending school days by an hour or two . Some parents would likely appreciate it … but many parents wouldn’t, to say nothing of the kids. The travel and tourism industry would be up in arms. We could eliminate the “professional-development day” scam, but I can’t imagine the teachers’ unions would go along with that.
It’s telling, though, that hardly anyone suggests these feasible alternatives, instead insisting on an HVAC solution that obviously won’t come to pass. It’s almost as if they aren’t really
that
concerned about kids spending a few days in a hot classroom at all, but instead want to inveigh against the government for not spending all the money on everything.
National Post
cselley@postmedia.com
