The Chinook's Edge School Division has approved its three-year capital plan priority list but receiving provincial government funding to get shovels in the ground in a timely manner is pitting hope against the reality of a deepening recession.
“We are always hopeful, but we know the current economic situation out there,” said Shawn Russell, the school division's associate superintendent of corporate services. “I guess the unknown out there is how infrastructure dollars will be spread across the province and what they will be used for in terms of infrastructure. If it's used for building schools we are very hopeful that we will have something approved.”
The division approved a list for eight capital projects for the period 2017 to 2020 at the board's March 9 meeting. The number 1 priority is the modernization of Sylvan Lake's H.J. Cody School, followed by an addition at Carstairs Elementary School. There are also future capital plans for Jessie Duncan Elementary School in Penhold, École Olds Elementary School, Spruce View School, Elnora School, and a second for Carstairs, where the long-term vision is for the community to have another elementary school.
Russell said while there is not a feeling of nervousness over what the upcoming provincial budget on April 14 may hold for school boards, including his own, officials with Chinook's Edge are “anxious” what fiscal direction the NDP will take.
“We are certainly anxious to see what the budget holds for education, but in the different communications I have seen the education minister speak, or heard of him speaking, he has made the statement that he will continue to support education across the province,” said Russell. “What that means in terms of an actual budget we will have to wait until (April) 14th to see. I guess I wouldn't say nervous, but always anxious to see what is in that budget for education.”
If there is money in the provincial budget for school infrastructure it will be up to Alberta Infrastructure to decide where the biggest needs are in the province, noted Russell.
“Alberta Infrastructure would look at all the requests from all the school boards from across the province, prioritize and award based on the amount of dollars they have and what they feel are the biggest needs across the province,” he said, adding his board remains hopeful the province and federal government are earmarking funds for infrastructure projects that will make its way to schools, and more hopefully, to the needs of Chinook's Edge. “If they are, we are certainly hopeful that we will get some of the priorities we listed on our capital plan approved.
“But we have to wait and see how they plan to use those infrastructure dollars they have talked about, both at the federal and provincial levels, to see if it does have an impact on the education infrastructure,” added Russell.
As for the price tag of the eight projects in the Chinook's Edge list, Russell said that's an issue handled by Alberta Infrastructure.
“It is difficult to put an exact dollar figure on it, especially with the modernization, as it depends on the extent of the modernization you are approved for, whether it includes additional classroom spaces being added on, or just a renovation of the existing space,” said Russell. They (Alberta Infrastructure) would have an idea before approving a project of what that would be approved for, and go from there.”
In the meantime, the board also decided on March 9 to direct senior division management to create clear guiding principles in developing capital plan requests to the provincial government, a process that will take three months and be brought back to the board in June.
“We are looking at how we develop those guiding principles and from that there will be a set of data that we would gather to help the board make their decisions,” said Russell. “We will be working with the board to put those in writing, for future boards as well, so they have an idea of how the decisions are made, and for the public to understand how decisions are made of what gets priority number 1 and what gets priority number 2.”
Shawn Russell, Chinook's Edge associate superintendent
"We are always hopeful but we know the current economic situation out there. I guess the unknown out there is how infrastructure dollars will be spread across the province and what they will be used for in terms of infrastructure."
