School lands. School lands are set aside by the town through the planning exercise – so many per expected population per area. There are quite a few planned. Schools are planned next to parks and trails for the benefit of children and the neighbourhood at large.
All lands are privately owned, most likely by a developer. The school board negotiates the purchase of the lands from the developer. The province will not build any new schools until the current ones are at capacity (or overcrowded), and have the required enrollment for a new school.
It’s the school board's job to force the issue. From my understanding the Halton School Board has a done a good job in that regard as several schools are set to be built in Milton.
The province has a per capita dollar amount for schools. To any suggestion that the town buy the land and hand it over to the school board makes no sense. Taxpayers already pay an education tax (a big portion of our property tax bill) and to expect the town of Milton to raise tax money to buy land to hand over to the school boards wouldn’t lower the education tax – it would result in a double tax whammy - and wouldn't result in a new school anyway until after the enrollment requirement is met.
