PG School District Hoping for Additional Funds
Prince George, B.C. – With a big provincial funding announcement for a new school in New Westminster ($106.5 million) this week and for school construction projects in Surrey last month ($74.2 million), could funding for School District 57 be next in line?
School Board Chair Tony Cable certainly hopes so and says there’s no question what this district’s number one priority is.
“Our number one need is the replacement of Kelly Road Secondary School and this has been a priority of School District 57 for a few years now. We really need a new school in the north end of town and we would like to be treated like the other Lower Mainland districts.”
According to the district’s five-year capital plan submitted last November, a new school won’t come cheap at an estimated $41,327,000.
Regardless, Cable says it’s time.
“The school is still functioning but we had a consulting company come in (as part of the district’s facility report) and rate different schools and there are a number of issues that need to be updated and replaced and it’s probably at the state where it’s cheaper to replace the whole school.”
The Top Three Projects singled out in the Prince George District’s 2015/16 Capital Plan:
- Kelly Road Secondary School replacement – $41,327,000
- Nusdeh Yoh Elementary School renovations – $2,797,520 (Victoria announced last month the district will receive $1.9 million to pay for upgrades at Nusdeh Yoh).
- D.P. Todd Secondary – addition to increase capacity – $7,260,394
He says he’s not concerned student enrolment will be an issue moving forward either (the school has over 600 students).
“I think the enrolment in the north end of town is always going to stay steady and we also through the facilities report, we may be changing boundaries for other schools and adding to the population at Kelly Road so I don’t think enrolment is an issue.”
And with a provincial election on the horizon, he says that won’t hurt their chances of receiving help either.
“We received money last week, for a new school this week in New West. We’ll stay tuned for the ongoing developments for sure.”
Comments
“estimated $41,327,000”
I am always amazed to the degree of accuracy boards will accept estimates for projects which could be as much as 5 years away. Even for construction and consulting services next year it would be ridiculous to use figures to a $1,000 accuracy with a $41+ million project which does not even have preliminary schematic plan layouts, let alone working drawings.
Just say between 2015$40 to $45 million with an expected average 2%/year increase for inflation.
I also find the information a bit disjointed. For instance, it states that the Kelly Road replacement is in the 5 year plan. Then it goes on to put the same project at the top of the 2015/16 plan. Which is it?
Then it goes on to say that Cable stated the student enrolment will not be a concern “moving forward” (Does someone in town have a time machine that allows them to move backward? Sorry, that expression is a pet peeve of mine. LOL)
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