{"id":896085,"date":"2026-09-15T01:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T01:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/896085\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T01:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T01:34:11","slug":"it-just-got-way-more-expensive-to-rent-gyms-at-toronto-and-york-region-public-schools-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/896085\/","title":{"rendered":"It just got way more expensive to rent gyms at Toronto and York Region public schools. Here’s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some sports groups are voicing worry after Toronto and York Region’s public school boards hiked permit fees on facility rentals like gyms, saying the move could price local groups out of accessing public space for community events.<\/p>\n

The changes by Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and York Region District School Board (YRDSB) came into effect Sept. 1. They affect the amount of money groups must pay to get a permit for accessing school spaces like gyms, auditoriums and cafeterias.<\/p>\n

The groups that pay for such permits range from locally organized basketball leagues to Girl Guide meetings.<\/p>\n

For Simon Rogers, who’s been running a basketball league at TDSB’s Central Technical School for 17 years, the price hike “boggles the mind.”<\/p>\n

He said he went from paying just over $3,400 for a permit last year to getting a quote of $9,818 and “some change” this year.<\/p>\n

“It’s a bit of a single-year leap,” he said. “We’ve always said we’re happy to pay more, whatever that is, it’s just, how much more?”<\/p>\n

In an emailed statement Monday, Zoya McGroarty, spokesperson for the TDSB, said the permit fee changes were made to account for inflation and “the need to cover the true cost of caretaking during weekend permits.”<\/p>\n

“Historically, weekend facility rental fees were intended to recover the full cost of providing access to school facilities, however over recent years, fees have not kept pace,” McGroarty said.<\/p>\n

“This has resulted in staff pulling hundreds of thousands of dollars from other areas of the board to help offset these costs \u2014 something that cannot be continued.”<\/p>\n

Basketball league’s permits rose from $45K to $208K, president says<\/p>\n

Permit fees for school facilities can vary depending on the type of group trying to rent them, according to the TDSB’s<\/a> and YRDSB’s<\/a> websites.<\/p>\n

Some groups, like non-profits, will receive lower costs due to provincial<\/a> and school board subsidies.<\/p>\n

Under the new changes, York’s school board has stopped offering subsidies altogether, according to a statement published on its website<\/a>. It’s unclear, based on the TDSB’s response or its website, whether the school board has also fully stopped subsidizing permit costs under the new changes.<\/p>\n

YRDSB’s changes meant the York North Basketball Association, a non-profit youth basketball club in the Newmarket-Aurora area that plays across the GTA, had to increase the cost of some of its programming.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The York North Basketball Association, a non-profit youth basketball club in the Newmarket-Aurora area, had to increase the cost of some of its programming as a result of the permit fees increasing. (Submitted by Stephen Paine)<\/p>\n

Stephen Paine, president of the association, said the changes are “substantial” and he’s “already heard from families that can’t afford it.”<\/p>\n

Paine said the association paid around $45,000 in permit fees last year, and this year the price tag shot up to around $208,000.<\/p>\n

“We probably had tears in our eyes when we found out the amounts and trying [to figure out] what we were supposed to do,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I think this is going to be [an] unintended consequence on youth. There’s a lot of user groups that won’t be able to afford these schools anymore.”<\/p>\n

The province still helps subsidize permit fees but it’s unclear by how much, according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CBC has reached out to the Ministry of Education for comment.<\/p>\n

In an emailed statement Monday, YRDSB spokesperson Licino Miguelo said the board is “no longer in a position to over-subsidize permit fees” but it continues to offer a permit fee structure that includes reduced rates for charities and non-profits.<\/p>\n

“To ensure that funds intended for students and programs are properly allocated to support schools and classrooms, permit fees have been adjusted to reflect their actual costs. This results in permits being cost-neutral for the Board,” Miguelo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some sports groups are voicing worry after Toronto and York Region’s public school boards hiked permit fees on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":896086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,310265,67946,310263,3302,73381,310264,310261,310262],"class_list":["post-896085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-public-school-boards","tag-school-board","tag-stephen-paine","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-district-school-board","tag-york-north-basketball-association","tag-york-region","tag-yrdsb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=896085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/896086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}