Raising funds has become a fourth R in Ontario’s education system — but new provincial rules will do little to curb the ubiquitous practice or address the gap between have and have-not schools, critics say.

The guidelines, promised since 2002, were finally released by the province Friday. For the first time, they require schools in Ontario to report annually to the community on how much money they raise and where it’s spent.

But they do nothing to close the massive disparity in fundraising between rich and poor elementary schools — from a high of $250,000 over three years to less than $7,000 — uncovered by the Star in a 2011 series using data obtained from boards in Greater Toronto, says Lesley Johnston of Social Planning Toronto.

They also lack teeth, says NDP education critic Peter Tabuns.

“We think that if you’re going to have fundraising, if you’re not going to enforce the rules, if you just put out guidelines, you aren’t going to see any change,” Tabuns said.

Boards are being asked to develop their own policies that will help schools create their own in turn, as well as set limits on the scope of fundraising activities in each school.

“It’s our expectation that the boards work with their schools to set this up, and we’ll be following up with the boards,” said Grahame Rivers, press secretary for Education Minister Laurel Broten. “The ministry will work with the board to ensure those standards are met.”

But the government didn’t set out consequences for schools that don’t follow the rules.

Without that, “Why would parents who see the need not continue to fundraise?” asked Tabuns.

They new policy also limits the use of fundraising for capital projects, though it allows it for building playgrounds or improving sports fields. Johnston said she worries that failing to ban such uses actually opens the door to more fundraising.

As expected, the guidelines stipulate that money raised by parents can’t be used for learning materials or textbooks. Fundraising also can’t be used to pay for musical instruments used during school hours — but it’s okay for instruments used for extracurricular activities. Exactly how that will be sorted out remains to be seen.

Critics have said for years that fundraising creates a two-tiered system where wealthy schools can afford all the extras — such as bringing scientists into schools or enriched art activities — while poor schools cannot.

“There is over $540 million raised a year in school-generated funds in Ontario,” said Annie Kidder, executive director of the non-profit watchdog People for Education, of a total that includes fundraising, fees and corporate donations.

“There is still no clear public reporting on how those funds are raised, how they’re divided and what they’re spent on. We still have a system that has that amount of privately raised money in it.”

The Peel District School Board is reviewing the new rules in light of its controversial policy that allows parents to raise money for capital projects such as auditoriums, theatres or pools. Rivers said that’s no longer allowed.

The guidelines also suggest that a portion of dollars raised by a school could be pooled at board level to benefit all students. But Toronto Trustee Sheila Cary-Meagher, who originally supported that idea, says it turned out to be such a hot potato she dropped it.

“On the surface, it’s a really great idea,” she said. But the negative reaction showed “parents will never go for it. It would pit community against community.”

Cary-Meagher said school reporting is a “a good thing. I think people will be shocked.”

In the Toronto public board alone, the top 20 money-generating elementary schools, primarily in wealthy neighbourhoods, collected a total of $4.4 million, compared with just $103,000 for the bottom 20 schools, most in needy areas. Fundraising is reported at monthly school council meetings, but not to the community at large.