REGINA – If the city of Regina didn’t put up money for a new school to meet the province’s timeline, there was no guarantee on when it would have been built.
Saskatchewan education minister Don Morgan said Monday the city could have opted out of the government’s public-private partnership (P3) plan to build nine joint-use schools and jump to the top of the waiting list for a traditional school build, but the timeline for that is unknown.
“It might be next year, it might be two or three years down the road depending how fast the neighbourhood builds out,” Morgan said. “We tried to give some comfort it was on the list, at or near the top, but we could give no commitment as to when it would come.”
Regina Mayor Michael Fougere said last week, “Education funding should rest with the province.”
Councillors said they were “given an ultimatum” to pay $6 million to provide services like roads and sewers to Skywood, a future northwest Regina development, years ahead of schedule, when the cost was only expected to be half of that total.
Morgan believes the cost is justified because the communties receiving the schools will benefit in ways other municipalities would not.
“Another community wouldn’t benefit from the amenities Regina is getting, like the day care centre, the enlarged gym, community space, a space to store and lock up outdoor equipment,” Morgan said. “It’s reasonable those ratepayers in Regina should have to pay something additional.”
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NDP education critic Trent Wotherspoon said taxpayers are being billed twice for services all schools provide.
“I’m in schools all the time for community meetings (for) seniors, arts, kids’ (activities), all sorts of programming. That’s how schools are supposed to operate. They should be hubs of the community,” said Wotherspoon.
Morgan said Saskatoon, Warman and Martensville – the other three communities where the joint-use schools will be built – are being asked to contribute as well. Each municipality receives a provincial grant of just over $1 million per plot of land being used for a school.
Construction on all of the schools is to be completed by Fall 2017.
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