Civil Municipal - April 2024

students “through the love of God, neighbor, and self.” Its vision encourages its learning communities to “transform the world through witness, faith, innovation, and action.” Its official symbol combines the cross, the anchor, and the heart, representing the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. “In educating students for their future success, and the contributions they can make to society, we are privileged, as a Catholic education system, to be able to educate the whole child: their bodies, their minds, their hearts, and their souls,” exclaims Nancy Crawford, Chair of the TCDSB. “We are very supportive of student well-being and their ability to navigate their own lives and our faith, so we’re reaching out to educate students in their relationship with God and Jesus Christ. It’s a privilege that we have in our Catholic education system and we’re very grateful to be able to do this.” A GROWING STUDENT POPULATION While the TCDSB may already be the largest publicly funded Catholic education system in the world, the needs of a growing metropolitan population present an ongoing challenge for the School Board, both in terms of educational programming and physical infrastructure. According to Crawford, “Toronto is often seen as a great location to emigrate to: a wonderful city in a great province in a great country. So, we do have an influx of new population every year and we welcome everyone. We have an orientation center where students and their families can be helped, and we have English as a second language (ESL) programs because we are very aware of the language needs of these new students.We’ve grown by almost 2,000 students from the 2022-23 year to the 2023-24 academic year. So, we do need to build new schools. Many of our schools were built in the 1960s, so they need some renewal work, or replacement in some cases.” FUNDING CAPITAL PROJECTS Up until 1984, the Board did not receive full funding from the government at the Secondary level.“Before full funding, the School Board had to rely on other sources to ensure students could continue their 279 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 5, ISSUE 04 TORONTO CATHOL IC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD