TDSB RENT INCREASE WHACKS CHURCH GROUPS

By Nigel Tomes

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has walloped Christian groups who rent space in our public schools with huge rent increases. Toronto news media trumpeted the news: “School rental hike wallops small faith groups,” declared the Toronto Star. “TDSB fee hike raises rent for church group 800%” proclaimed the Toronto Sun.  “Church stunned by major TDSB rental fee hike,” CTV News reported. The news spread even further afield; “Toronto Churches Face Eviction as School Rental Fees Skyrocket,” Christianity Today told evangelical Christian readers across North America. So what’s going on?

The Toronto School Board (TDSB) decided that faith-based groups no longer qualify for “subsidies to non-profit groups.” So the TDSB revised its categories so that “religious groups’’ now have to pay full fees. To make matters worse the decision, made early this year, was only communicated to the Christian groups late in August, days before the new rental scheme went into effect. Hence these faith-based groups feel they “were suddenly switched and renamed to fall under the ‘non-subsidized’ category,” and, hence, face huge rent increases. (CTV News, Sept. 11) [Let’s also note here that TDSB’s “subsidies” reflect their accounting practices which allocate fixed costs to their rental clients, instead of just the extra costs of janitors, etc.]

Examples of Hard-Hit Churches

Christian congregations renting space in Toronto’s public schools for Sunday services have been whacked with rent increases of 200% to 800%. Examples reported in the press include:

·    The Filipino, “Jesus Reigns Ministry Church,” a 70-member congregation reports “Our current annual contract from a TDSB school (Bloorlea Middle School) has gone up from $5,673 to $44,695,”—that’s an eight-fold (790%) increase. (Toronto Sun)

·      Grace Toronto Church which uses Rosedale Heights School for 4 hours on Sundays saw their fees skyrocket from $1,514 to $2,821 per week. Their fees will increase further to $3,668 per week in Jan., 2013. Their annual rental fees will double from $78,000 to $150,000. These new “prices are almost on par to what big businesses pay to rent space,” the Pastor complained. (CTV News, Sept 11)

Equity Issues

Toronto Sun columnist, Joe Warminton, raised the issue of equity. He contrasts the differential effects of the TDSB changes on Christian groups using schools for Sunday worship and Muslims’ use of Valley Park Middle School (in the Don Mills/ Eglinton area) for Friday prayers. He notes, provocatively, “If you are a Filipino Christian congregation renting space from the Toronto District School Board, you face a shocking 800% gouging increase in your rental permits. But if you are a Muslim Imam using a school cafeteria as a mosque for Friday prayers, there is not only no increase — but no charge at all.” (Toronto Sun, Sept. 4-6)

TDSB’s Bad Economics

The TDSB justifies these draconian measures as the means to solve its budget shortfall. It claims these new rent increases will “allow the board to increase its revenue and decrease its costs by $2.2 million.” However, a more likely result is that Church groups will run for the exits, abandoning TDSB facilities in favour of cheaper alternatives, such as schools run by Toronto’s Catholic School Board. Clearly, if everyone abandons TDSB facilities, rental revenue will be zero! This raises the specter that the net effect of TDSB’s rent increases could be a massive back-fire. It’s simple Economics 101. If you double the rental price and the amount of rentals falls by over 50% the total rental revenue will fall. In that case rental revenue has not increased, it’s decreased! If this happens, instead of solving TDSB’s budget problems, the budget short-fall is increased by TDSB’s counter-productive measures. Given the magnitude of the increased rents faced by cash-strapped Church groups, many of whom are working poor and/or recent immigrants, this scenario is a real possibility.

The TDSB should seriously reconsider this ill-conceived policy.