EDMONTON – The Redford government announced Tuesday that it will modernize 18 schools – nine in Edmonton and nine in Calgary.
Planned renovations include updating mechanical and electrical systems, improving school exteriors and classroom modifications.
“We have a world class, I think top five education system, and that’s where we want to stay,” said Transportation Minister Ric McIver. “We want to stay or be at one, as close to one as we can, because we want Alberta kids leading the world, not following it.”
The projects will include a major modernization of Ross Sheppard High School in Edmonton, upgrades and an expansion at Jack James High School in Calgary, and a full renovation of the facility for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Edmonton.
The province says some of the changes will include improving accessibility as well as safety and security systems.
“We are working hard to make our education system more student-centred and responsive to the needs of kids and their communities,” said Minister of Education Jeff Johnson.
NDP MLA Deron Bilous believes there’s a lot of catching up to do.
“Although this is a positive step in the right direction, we have to keep in mind that we’re a long ways away from the school boards catching up to their deferred maintenance, province-wide,” he said.
“Look at Edmonton Public as an example – they have, this year, about $250 million worth of deferred maintenance costs on their books.”
More information on the province’s plan to modernize schools is available online.
The province has planned to spend nearly $1.4 billion over three years on school capital projects, including $441 million to finish 22 new schools expected to open in the fall of 2014, the modernization of 13 existing schools, and more than $500 million for the modernization of another 70 existing facilities, and the construction of an additional 50 new schools.
“We announced some in December, there’s more coming,” said Johnson. “We’ve got the commitment from the premier that essentially we’re going to announce 120 projects. We’re well into that list now. It was originally intended to be 50 new and 70 modernizations, and we believe that’s where it’s going to end up. But, what we’re finding is, some of the modernizations that we’re pegging – as we get into the due diligence and scoping them out – some of them are making more sense to replace the school than actually try to renovate and modernize it.”
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