The Bruce County Federation of Agriculture is calling on the provincial government to issue a moratorium on rural school closures.
President Les Nichols appealed to Bruce County council to support their request for a new rural education strategy, and to hold off on closing any rural schools until the new strategy is in place.
He says it's clear the funding formula for schools is unfairly hurting rural students and they want to see a sliding scale for funding that will allow rural schools to stay open.
Nichols says they also want to see public and Catholic school boards work collaboratively to share space and resources, though he stresses they are not suggesting merging school boards.
With a provincial election looming next year, Nichols says there's likely no better time to be asking the province to consider rural school funding.
"It's time we dealt with [rural school closures], period, it's sort of spinning out of control, and obviously yes, the fact there's an election in the not-too-distant future obviously makes the timing even more appropriate, probably," says Nichols.
Bruce County council has not formally backed the request, though councillors spoke in support of the Bruce Federation.
Warden Mitch Twolan says they need as many voices as possible to get through to the province that rural schools need to stay open, but points out the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Bruce federation are especially influential.
"I think sometimes the ministers will listen more to the OFA and Bruce County Federation of Agriculture more so than us as politicians, sometimes," says Twolan. "[We're] glad to support any way we can."
The provincial government is conducting a rural education strategy survey until June 9, which can be found here.