Ontario is investing $137 million this year to build new schools, expand or renovate existing schools and create new licensed child care spaces.

Ontario invests annually in local school infrastructure projects to give students better places to learn and give children increased access to safe, high-quality licensed child care in schools. With this investment, four new schools will be built, while 16 will have additions and retrofits made to them.

Families in Toronto, Kingsville and Oshawa will also soon have access to a total of 19 new custom-built child care rooms in local schools, which will create 318 total new licensed spaces for infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers.

“Improving learning environments for our students is one of the best infrastructure investments we can make,” said Liz Sandals, Minister of Education, in a press release. “Our government is proud to invest in capital projects that are bringing students and communities together, reducing the cost of under-used space and reinvesting savings back into the classroom.”

Since 2003, the province has invested a total of about $13.5 billion in local school infrastructure, including 758 new schools and over 735 additions and renovations.