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Column: School funding slow but better than the alternative

B.C. parents can wait for years to get new schools built but at least provincial taxes — not an assessment on property taxes — pay for them
Irvine
In 2016, parents lobbied to get seismic funding for Irvine elementary. That funding was eventually approved by the provincial government. In other jurisdictions in the U.S., capital for new schools is raised by an increase in property assessments and municipal voters have to approve it — which can be a risky proposition if voters are divided or opposed.

It's shocking how long it takes to fund and build new schools in growing communities like the Tri-Cities, resulting in frustration among both parents and school officials.

Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that Burke Mountain parents crammed a school gym to get news about school building for their growing neighbourhood, and when Irvine elementary parents were upset about delays to get a seismic rebuild for their school, they called the media, started a Facebook group and wore cardboard bricks on their heads for a photo to emphasize their concerns about their school’s safety during an earthquake.

Their frustration was understandable because it appeared the bureaucracy involved in getting money for a new school or a rebuild was byzantine at best, with money not available until classrooms were already overloaded and districts forced to come up with some of the capital costs themselves to guarantee funding.

Now, School District 43 is facing additional challenges in getting cities to sign off on fees developers pay to buy land for new schools. With Port Moody balking at the latest Eligible School Site Proposal, and with land values rising, it’s going to cost more to get schools built in urban areas.

Still, you only have to look across the border to find that maybe B.C.’s school capital funding program isn’t so bad.

While it does take time, feasibility studies and even capital injections to get a new school built, there is at least an expectation that general taxation will pay for new schools, including seismic rebuilds.

Recently, funding to rebuild Irvine was approved, Smiling Creek opened on Burke Mountain, Sheffield elementary is on the way there as well, and two middle schools — Moody and Banting — were recently rebuilt.

It's not so easy in the U.S. where parents are being lobbied to support a new bond to raise $42.7 million to build a new elementary school additions and renovations in Idaho's Bonneville Joint School District. There, according to Brennan Kaufman in the Post Register, parents are being lobbied as they register their kids for a new school year, and voter support is no guarantee. In 2015 getting support for bond to pay for a new high school was contentious, although it was eventually approved.

While provincial taxes pay for new schools in B.C., in Bonneville, homeowners will pay directly through their property taxes — $92 per $100,000 of assessment for about 17 years.

 

You could argue SD43 has it easy when it merely has to go cap in hand to the province. At least here you don’t have to fight your neighbours to get a new school built.