It is my privilege to share that on May 10, I joined the Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, to announce an investment of $33.4 million for a new school in Etobicoke–Lakeshore. This new public school investment will create another 823 student spaces and 88 licensed child care spaces for families in south Etobicoke.

I’m happy to note that the new Etobicoke City Centre Elementary School is the fifth major school investment for Etobicoke–Lakeshore during my tenure as MPP. That’s over $135 million invested in schools and linked child care spaces in our community. I’m proud to advocate for and deliver these much-needed investments for our fast-growing community, to support working families and young learners. Two out of these five schools, St. Leo and Holy Angels, are expected to open in September 2024. The new Holy Angels school will accommodate 600 students and have 88 child care spaces. There will be room for 500 students at St. Leo, along with 49 child care spaces. The new and improved Bishop Allen Academy and St. Elizabeth school are anticipated to open in September 2027, with 1,300 and 600 pupil places, respectively.

I also want to share that for the upcoming 2024-25 school year, the Toronto Catholic District School Board will get nearly $1.2 billion in education funding, which is an increase of over $15.6 million from the current school year; the Toronto District School Board will get $3.3 billion, an increase of $68 million from the current school year.

I would like to thank the members from Simcoe–Grey and Brampton East for their presentation today. My question will be for the member from Simcoe–Grey. According to statistics, roughly a thousand teens age out of care every year; 400 of those will drop out of high school and 400 will qualify for post-secondary education. But only 20%—that’s 80 of those kids—who age out of care will pursue post-secondary education. If you follow it along, only eight graduate from post-secondary education.

I want to know if the member can speak about the importance of fully subsidized post-secondary education for kids who age out of care.