The Ford government tabled new legislation to convert surplus schools into affordable housing or sell off the properties.

The new bill called the ‘Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act’ includes measures to standardize the education system with priorities set by education minister Stephen Lecce that will give parents more say over their children’s education, modernize teacher education and make disciplinary actions more efficient.

“Well the aim is obviously to make sure that kids have access to schools in their communities and this bill is designed to create more local education in communities that have schools that are not being used for learning purposes, there could be schools today that sit empty, could be rented, could be used for administrative purposes or could be used as a storage facility,” said Lecce.

He says the overhaul will strengthen back to basics learning in reading, writing and math with an additional $690 million that includes the hiring of more teachers.

“I’m announcing the hiring of an additional 1,000 teachers for de-streamed courses, “said Lecce. “And yesterday, we announced another 1,000 educators, these are new investments that will focus on things like literacy educator specialist and math educators.”

In addition, the new bill calls for elected school board trustees be subject to training and some new rules.