Chinook's Edge schools are showing the need for more maintenance dollars these days, says division corporate secretary Al Tarnoczi.
There are 40 schools in the Innisfail-based Chinook's Edge School Division.
“We are stretched as far as facilities dollars go to repairing the buildings,” said Tarnoczi. “I think we are keeping up with all of the urgent items, for example the envelope (building structures) kinds of things, but it's no surprise to anyone who has been in our schools that many of our buildings are looking tired and that they need a good thorough going over to spruce them up.
“It's something that has been accumulating over time. It's a deficit in that sense that is definitely growing over time.”
Tarnoczi's comments come as the provincial opposition Liberals say figures recently uncovered through Freedom of Information requests show a provincewide maintenance deficit of more than $850 million for K-12 schools.
Kent Hehr, Liberal education and advanced education critic, calls the current maintenance deficit a “combination of neglect and incompetence” on the part of the provincial PCs.
“Not only can the Tories not build any of the new schools promised but they can't even keep the existing ones in any reasonable shape,” said Hehr. “Our kids are paying the price as they are forced to learn in rundown, overcrowded schools.”
Asked if Chinook's Edge student education is being impacted by the current maintenance situation, Tarnoczi said, “I would say at this point we are not losing any learning spaces because of any sort of deficit. I think that we could be providing a more optimal learning environment for students with additional facilities dollars.”
No schools in the division are in danger of closing for want of maintenance dollars, he said.
“We've made a priority to make sure our (building) envelopes are viable. We've dealt with all of the urgent problems and we can't get too much farther than that.”
Asked how much the division would like to see to address the situation, he said, “We would like to see the government look at what the industry standard for rejuvenating (public) buildings is and meet that standard (in Chinook's Edge). I think the education industry, at least in the province of Alberta, is lagging very much behind industry in general as far as the dollars dedicated to the upkeep of buildings.”
Kathleen Range, spokesperson for Alberta Education, says the province has committed $300 million over three years to address maintenance funding issues in schools.
“We are addressing those issues,” said Range. “Obviously we've heard from schools and have assessed the needs and that's why we have increased that amount.”
