One Tecumseh councillor hopes her proposal about reviewing the funding model used to pay for school crossing guards will spur a bigger conversation about where we build our schools.
Town council will consider a Notice of Motion at Tuesday's meeting from Ward 1 councillor Alicia Higgison.
It calls for a letter to be sent to both the Minister of Education and the Minster of Transportation requesting the review of the current funding model for school crossing guards.
Municipalities pay for the cost of school crossing guards under the current funding model.
The motion also asks that the letter urge consideration be given to not only the implementation of a cost sharing funding model but as well a shared approach to promoting active transportation and safety between the Province of Ontario and its municipalities.
Higgison believes this is one aspect of a much larger conversation around how people are getting to and from school.
"If we're building a school in a neighbourhood and we want our kids to walk and bike and roll to school, then we should make it safer for them to do that," she says. "We should put it in a place where it becomes safer for the community to walk and transport themselves actively without using a car, or using a car and a bus less often."
Higgison says she wants to know if we're encouraging active transportation.
"Are we doing that from kind of the first decision making point that we have, both from a municipality perspective, from a school perspective, and a ministry perspective in that kind of trajectory," she says. "Those are my bigger questions and costs are always a great place to start when you're dealing with taxpayer dollars in times of inflation."
Higgison says where our schools are located is something we should be thinking about as we're adding more housing.
"Schools should really be a thing that we're thinking about as a cornerstone and if we're doing that, then we should be thinking about how our students and families are getting to and from school. It just makes sense," she adds.
According to a report to council, the Town of Tecumseh currently has seven locations with school crossings that receive crossing guard services from the Town, which include A.V. Graham Public School, St. Pius X Catholic Elementary School, Ecole elementaire catholique Ste-Marguerite D’Youville, D.M. Eagle Public School and Ecole elementaire catholique St-Antoine.
The motion also asks that the letter be circulated to all municipalities and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
Tecumseh council meets at 7 p.m. at Tecumseh Town Hall.