Alberta government adds details of accelerated school construction

The Alberta government is prepared to open the purse strings by $8.6 billion under its School Construction Accelerator Program (SCAP) announced by Premier Danielle Smith on Tuesday night. In all, SCAP will see the Alberta government spend the one-time funding to deliver more than 200,000 student spaces to communities in a bid to keep up with the pace of population growth. “I am confident this will keep up with the province’s historic growth by building and modernizing schools where they are needed most,” said Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides at a Wednesday press conference. Nicolaides said the first pillar of the program is construction of new schools. In Budget 2025 and the two budgets after it, he said it will commit to building 30 new schools each year. By the 2027 budget year, construction for 90 new schools will be underway in the highest need communities to make up the largest portion of the more than 200,000 student spaces the Alberta government will be delivering in the next seven years. The schools will go to public, Catholic, and francophone districts. Given the high utilization rates in the Calgary and Edmonton Metropolitan Region, those communities will naturally receive the most projects. The education minister went on to say the second pillar is the modernization of existing student spaces. From 2025 to 2027, he confirmed it will provide funding for five to eight school modernizations each year to update up to 16,600 spaces, with many of them in rural communities. He said this will ensure students outside high-growth communities benefit from new, modernized spaces. The third pillar involves the purchase of a large number of modular or portable classrooms. The Alberta government’s goal is to add 20,000 modular spaces over the next four years starting in 2025. He said the units offer unique, fast solutions to a school’s space needs. Additionally, he said they can be used as additions to existing schools or to build mini schools. This is on top of the 100 modular classrooms it ordered in July and will implement by the end of the year. The fourth pillar is expanding spaces with partners of choice. Through the Charter School Accelerator Program, the Alberta government aims to add 12,500 spaces over the next four years. This will be done by renovating or building three charter school buildings and two expansions per year. It is exploring opportunities for a pilot project to build more independent schools, but more details will come out later. Nicolaides continued by saying SCAP makes changes to the approval process. Alberta Education uses a gated approval process to build new schools. The stages are planning, design, and construction. Projects only move to the next stage during the annual budget cycle, which means it takes three years for them to move forward. However, he said it is changing the process to allow them to move forward faster. Moving forward, a school will be able to move forward at any time of the year once it has met the requirements of its current stage. When a project is ready to move forward, it will be able to. As a result of this change, 10 schools are moving forward to their next stage, with six going to full construction. In closing, Nicolaides said there “is a lot of work to come, but I am confident that this new program will keep up with historic levels of student growth in Alberta.” He predicted SCAP will be welcomed by municipalities and school boards. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith started off the press conference by saying Alberta’s population growth is leading to 30,000 new students each year. “So that’s the equivalent of about 35 schools every year,” said Smith. “In Budget 2024, we allocated record funding to build and modernize new schools to accommodate the growing number of students, but it’s simply not enough to address this incredible growth.” That is why it is increasing the kindergarten to Grade 12 capital budget for the new school spaces and modernizations through SCAP. She said it will allow the Alberta government to complete construction on 50,000 student spaces over the next three years and another 150,000 in the four years after that. Alberta Infrastructure Minister Peter Guthrie said he was pleased to be making the announcement on the heels of opening five new high schools. “All of these projects were completed on time in May of this year and now have 7,000 students filling those halls,” said Guthrie. “Alberta’s economy continues to grow, and that’s a good thing.” However, the rampant growth has increased student enrolment and placed pressure on school boards. By committing to 90 new schools and up to 24 modernizations, he acknowledged it will create more than 200,000 spaces by 2031-2032. Nicolaides followed up by saying the Alberta government is in the process of developing options for a pilot project for independent schools. “We want to talk with our independent school providers to see what will work and what would make the most sense for the government and them so we can explore that partnership," he said. Smith said on Tuesday the Alberta government has approved the SCAP to respond to the province’s exploding student enrolment growth. .Smith says Alberta government to bring in School Construction Accelerator Program

Alberta government adds details of accelerated school construction

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