The NDP and B.C. Liberals are at odds over whether there is a funding freeze curtailing education projects.
The Liberals say seven capital projects at schools have been put off by the province, among them an $87-million replacement for Mission Secondary.
“The concern has arisen that there appears to be an NDP school freeze here in capital,” said Liberal finance critic Peter Milobar.
“The excuses are mounting as to why, everything from the pandemic to floods to fires, but when you look at the budget there’s literally millions of dollars for all three of those things so it really doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.”
He noted that Premier John Horgan’s riding of Langford-Juan de Fuca includes the Sooke School District. Currently unfunded plans there include three more elementary schools, a secondary school and seismic expansion at Port Renfrew Elementary.
“It appears in the case of the premier’s own riding he’s willing to sacrifice three elementary-school projects to make sure that the museum project can proceed,” Milobar said, in reference to the government's $789-million replacement plan for the Royal B.C. Museum.
Milobar said there is a “lack of transparency” from the government when it comes to spending.
B.C. School Trustees’ Association president Carolyn Broady doesn’t see a funding freeze in place. She said her group’s role is to advocate provincially for funding for seismic work and new-school expansions.
“The goal is to have safe and welcoming schools for everybody, but we also have the understanding that some projects have to take priority,” Broady said.
One example is a Quesnel school that could be hit by a landslide, she said.
“The funding envelope we get for capital is set and those priorities move around.”
The association will continue to work to get projects in districts like Mission, Sooke and Vancouver moving forward as soon as possible, Broady said.
Sooke School District still hopes capital projects put forward for 2022-23 will get funding, said board chairman Ravi Parmar.
He said there is nervousness about getting more funds because the district needs to keep pace with its growing population, but officials are happy with funding levels in the recent past. The district had a jump of 827 new students through last October, its biggest increase in 30 years.
The Ministry of Education and Child Care said in a statement that B.C.’s 60 school districts put forward hundreds of requests for investments in capital projects every year.
“We are investing $3.1 billion over the next three years to build and expand schools to respond to enrolment growth, seismically mitigate schools in B.C. and also maintain and improve existing schools,” the ministry said.
“At no time will the capital funding budgeted for school projects be diverted to other capital projects such as museums, roads or hospitals.
“Right now, there are over three dozen major school capital projects in business case development, and we are working with districts to bring them to approval.”
The ministry said projects to be considered for future years include not only Mission Secondary, but seismic work at False Creek Elementary, Killarney Secondary and David Thompson Secondary in the Vancouver School District, a new school in Fernie in the Southeast Kootenay School District, seismic work at Pitt Meadows Secondary in the Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows School District and seismic work at Shoreline Middle in the Greater Victoria School District.
“We continue to make investments on the south Island, with nearly $340 million invested in the Sooke, Greater Victoria and Saanich school districts for major school capital projects in the past five years,” the ministry said, including an expansion at Victoria High School and the replacement of Cedar Hill Middle School.
In Sooke, a number of minor capital projects have been approved, including heating, ventilation and air-conditioning upgrades for Spencer Middle School, remediation of the building envelope at John Muir Elementary School and the addition of three new buses.
Funded projects in recent years include two new schools — Pexisen Elementary School and Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School at a combined cost of $88.6 million — a Royal Bay Secondary School expansion and seismic upgrades to Ruth King Elementary School and Dunsmuir Middle School.
Pexisen and Centre Mountain Lellum are set to open in September.
As it stands, there will be 55 portables in the district in the 2022-23 school year.
