Councillor wants to relieve parents of school playground structure fundraising burden

A Winnipeg councillor says school divisions, the city and the province should be shouldering the responsibility of building and replacing school play structures instead of volunteer parent groups.

Coun. Brian Mayes struck a 10-day task force on the issue and released a series of recommendations following multiple meetings with local leaders, parents and school officials.

One of the main takeaways in Mayes’ report is that the province should fund play structures at new schools by allocating one per cent of the construction cost, along with contributions from the city and school divisions.

“It just seems like such an out-of-date way of raising money for structures that are really important for getting kids active and playing,” Mayes said.

Play structures on school grounds are typically paid for through provincial funding and fundraising by volunteer parent groups. Mayes thinks the current model is inequitable because divisions in wealthier areas fare better at fundraising.

Other divisions have playgrounds on city-owned land, so the city would be responsible for repairing or replacing them.

The report states parents from across the city voiced frustration at the assumption that they could take time off work to research and carry out fundraising efforts that can take several years to complete.

Money raised by some parent groups was essentially erased by inflationary costs for the project materials, the report said.

Mayes says funding for play structures should be included in all new kindergarten-to-Grade 5 school construction plans.

“The province is funding the new schools, and just seems natural to me that (should) be part of a school project,” he said.

Alternatively, the province could copy a program in Saskatchewan, where the province budgeted $3.75 million per year for repairs, with grants up to $50,000, based on applications.

A parent group in North Kildonan is figuring out how to secure upwards of $200,000 to replace a play structure that needed to be torn down at an elementary school because it was declared unsafe by the province.

The structure at Ecole Springfield Heights School was removed in October. A subcommittee of the school’s parent association hosted a doughnut fundraiser, but that money is only a drop in the bucket in the total bill.

The group is applying for provincial grants, but it’s battling other groups working on similar projects and can’t continue to rely on parents to shell out money for the structure.

“Grants aren’t guaranteed,” said committee member Trevor Bartkiewicz. “It’s just a lot for a volunteer parent organization to to manage all of those aspects.”

Some school divisions have already pivoted to including play structure funding in their annual budgets. The Winnipeg School Division no longer allows door-to-door fundraising for building upgrades, and has instead committed to three school board-funded playground upgrades every year.

Fellow Springfield Heights committee member Brittany Romano also wants to see the province and school divisions step in to build playgrounds for new schools and, retroactively, for old ones. She says it shouldn’t be up to a group of parents to research, plan and pay for a structure that needs to be accessible to thousands of children over its 20- to 30-year lifespan.

“These are legacy projects,” she said.

A statement attributed to Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said the province plans to look through Mayes’ report.

The province committed $100,000 toward a new outdoor play area at Sansome School in Westwood for the 2025-26 academic year, and another $100,000 for a new playground at Bairdmore School in Richmond West, the minister’s statement said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca