Every morning, around 60-70 per cent of the students at Market Lane Jr. and Sr. Public School are served breakfast and a morning meal, says Rona Bailey, a former nutrition coordinator for the school. The school, nestled in Toronto’s cozy Esplanade neighbourhood, also receives funding for its lunch program. But some Toronto District School Board trustees say the system that gives schools grants for nutrition programs can unfairly advantage schools in wealthier communities.
While reviewing the funding allocated for nutrition programs throughout the school board, Ward 22’s trustee Anu Sriskandarajah noticed that some schools in high income communities receive more funding than those in the lower income bracket that should be given priority.
Most schools receive funding for either a breakfast or a morning meal program. Sometimes they are funded for both. The school board reviews applications, prioritizing funding for the top 100 schools in their annual learning opportunities index (LOI), which measures the level of external challenges affecting student success.
Market Lane is right at the bottom of the top 100 rankings for 2023, meaning it has great external challenges, but not as severe as the number one ranked school. For example, Nelson Mandela Park Public School — another school where Bailey has worked — ranks much higher, yet gets the same amount of programming as Market Lane. This seems ideal, but a review of other schools and programs show discrepancies.
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Glen Park Public School ranks 202 in the 2023 LOI but receives breakfast and a morning snack. Meanwhile Flemington Public School receives morning snack and lunch and ranks 4 in the LOI. Tumpane Public School actually ranks higher at 35 but receives breakfast and morning meal, while Mandela Park receives all three programs, ranking at 38. Fairbank Memorial Community School ranks 110 but receives breakfast, lunch, and a morning snack. Parkdale ranks 172 but receives breakfast, morning meal, and lunch. Secord Elementary ranks 157 and also receives morning snack, breakfast and lunch. George Webster ranks 134 and also receives morning meal, lunch and afternoon snack. Crescent Town ranks 262 but receives a morning meal and afternoon snack. In other words, schools well below the top 100 in the LOI receive generous programming and funding — sometimes even more than the top 100.
According to a statement from the City of Toronto, the average cost for a morning meal for students is $2.25, and the city funds on average $0.36 of that, contributing roughly 16.7 per cent of total costs, while the rest is funded by various channels including the provincial and federal government, suggesting funding is consistent per student. But the more programming a school receives, the more funding it also receives.
Meanwhile, schools are reportedly being underfunded for the most basic programs. Administrators at Jarvis Collegiate Institute in downtown Toronto said they requested funding for the morning snack program for 200 students. For the 2023-2024 school year it received $28,241.98. For the 2024-2025 school year, it was $28.684.94 which is roughly about 80 cents per student.
The schools’ guidance counselor Eric Johnston, administrative assistant Diane Ledo and principal Stephen Bain oversee the school nutrition program. In an interview with The Resolve in February, they said that they have consistently had to fund the entirety of the program with other pockets of funding in their budget.
“We’re only halfway through the year now. I’m being told that we’re going to be running out soon,” said Bain.
Jarvis only applied for the morning snack option for its school. It would have also asked for a hot breakfast or lunch option, however, the school’s kitchen facilities were closed down years ago by the board because the school’s student population had been shrinking.
Even hired staff that fill out the grant application each year for the school nutrition program find it challenging to navigate the online system. Johnston volunteers to complete the application each year and always finds he needs support navigating the application.
While Johnston fills out the budget application each year at Jarvis, Sudeep Sanyal, principal of Nelson Mandela Park Public School said that he’s not allowed to hire staff to coordinate lunch and breakfast, meaning meals are prepared in the kitchen by community members and parents, who can be paid an honorarium. Sanyal said his school is comfortably funded due to being ranked higher in the LOI, but acknowledges the program relies heavily on community involvement, as per the program’s guidelines.
Mandela Park’s program is a source for food security in the community, with lunch serving around 200 students. Sanyal said some days are more popular than others like barbecue chicken day.
“If somebody needs food or wants food, they get food,” said Sanyal. He noted due to funding limits, that Mandela Park students get a grab-and-go breakfast.
Ward 10’s trustee, Deborah Williams, oversees Mandela Park and noted a neighbouring school had a decades-long volunteer consistently prepare meals like fresh pancakes, bananas, berries, fruits and cereals set out for students who could sit calmly and chat with one another before the school day and was struck by the communal feel such dedicated volunteerism can produce.
“It supports what research shows: a well-nourished child has a better opportunity to come prepared to learn,” said Williams.
The student nutrition programs policy says that to qualify for grants schools must “provide nutritious food daily,” “fundraise through partnerships and parent donations,” and “establish a local nutrition program committee for program planning and community consultation.” Sriskandarajahs says that the requirements are “not explicitly racist. But it’s just coded.” She points out the barriers for multilingual communities to participate — interested parents must navigate the TDSB website, be able to fundraise, speak English well, and have enough time and resources to contribute to these schools.
“If we can’t communicate then how do we access the school system?” said Sriskandarajah.
Meanwhile, young people in the city are facing a food security crisis. On Jan. 27, Toronto declared a state of emergency for food insecurity across the city. The city will be increasing funding for the student nutrition program from $19.3 million in 2024 to $25.2 million in 2025, an increase that it predicts will feed 21,500 more children at 48 schools.
The state of emergency was seconded by city councillor Rachel Chernos Lin, who was chair of the TDSB before her election in November. Having worked exhaustively within the school board to bring more nutrition services to students, including giving out grocery cards to families during the pandemic, Chernos Lin noted that the new money would not necessarily be a top-up for schools like Jarvis Collegiate, meaning pre-existing funding issues will continue unresolved as the program expands.
“At the TDSB, there were always more schools that wanted to have programs than we could afford to fund. And even the ones that did have some funding were never fully funded and principals were using all sorts of stopgap measures to make it work,” said Chernos Lin.
At a February city council budget meeting, speakers including Mayor Olivia Chow discussed the value of the food nutrition program and investing in it, citing how it affects learning outcomes, mood, and can even help curb students from participating in violence.
The Daily Bread Food Bank reported that it served 3.49 million clients between April 2023 and March 2024, almost 1 million more than the previous year. It estimated that client activity increased by 273 per cent pre-pandemic and that one in 10 Torontonians rely on food banks. The organization also noted that the student nutrition program’s gaps in service are often disproportionately low-income, racialized, newcomer or disabled students. Chernos Lin noted that her former TDSB riding in Thorncliffe Park recently opened a new food bank.
“Increasingly, we’re seeing people who are employed who are using food banks,” said Chernos Lin. Former nutrition coordinator Rona Bailey says that during her time working, she found Market Lane students more opinionated in their food choices than other schools she’s served. Despite this, she said they ate whatever was offered.
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