Two Vancouver elementary schools are receiving a combined $2 million from the provincial government to upgrade their aging facilities.
Minister of Education Mike Bernier announced a $45 million school enhancement fund to be dispersed across all of the province’s school districts on Thursday afternoon. He said the “fix-it fund” will help districts pay for repairs and upgrades over-and-above what they can cover via the ministry’s annual facilities grant.
“This is happening because of the strong economy that we have in the province of British Columbia,” Bernier said. “This fix-it fund is really making sure that our schools last well into the future. It’s making sure that we’re realizing our commitments to work with school districts to make valuable investments in our over 1,600 schools in the province of British Columbia.”
The fund will pay for 80 projects at 124 schools across B.C., including upgrades to heating, ventilation, windows, lighting, electrical systems, and plumbing, as well as roof repairs/replacements and safety enhancements.
The Vancouver school district will receive a little over $2 million from the fund — $204,000 for window upgrades at Queen Mary Elementary School, plus $150,260 for roof repairs and $1,700,000 for window upgrades at Lord Strathcona Elementary School.
All of the projects “were chosen based on need, priority and supporting student learning,” had to cost more than $100,000 and must be substantially completed by March 31, 2017, according to a ministry of education press release.
“When you have a home, you always want to make sure when you have issues… [that you] make sure those repairs are there,” Bernier said. “You know it’s going to save money in the long run [and] it’s going to make your home safe for your family. And that’s what we’re talking about today, is our family of students in the province and making sure they’re safe in their environments.”
Bernier said the province is investing $1.7 billion over the next three years in new schools and seismic upgrades.
Vancouver School Board chairman Mike Lombardi said the board is pleased with the funding announcement as the money will allow the work at Queen Mary to be done in keeping with the heritage value of the building and allow for enhancements to Lord Strathcona the district was otherwise not able to find room for in the budget.
However, Lombard said, the board would prefer the money was added into the annual facilities grant so Vancouver and other districts could count on the funding when planning rather than applying for it on a project-by-project basis.
“Instead of [the annual facilities grant] getting larger each year, we tend to get these one-off announcements,” Lombardi said. “We appreciate it, but we are continually pushing the minister and the ministry to understand that it’s important to give school boards predictable capital maintenance funds so they can upgrade their schools and not find themselves in a deferred maintenance situation.”
According to a VSB report earlier this month, the district has the oldest schools in the province and relies on funding from the province’s annual facilities grant to maintain its more than 110 sites. The report says that a district-wide facility audit conducted by VFA Canada Corporation identified more than $700 million of deferred maintenance.
“As you can imagine, $2 million or $10 million is a drop in the bucket,” Lombardi said.
The report goes on to say that current rates of building renewal funding from the province are only enough to keep approximately 10 per cent of the district’s schools fully maintained over the next five years. As a result, it says, the district is “only able to address its highest priority building renewal requirements.”
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