The fate of 39 schools in Nova Scotia, 10 of which belong under the jurisdiction of the Halifax Regional School Board (HRSB), currently hang in the balance.
The schools are all P3 schools, or public-private partnerships. For the last two decades, the province has leased the schools from the private sector, but those leases are almost up and a decision about what happens next must be made.
“The options are either keep the schools, so there’s an additional capital cost, the second is to simply move on or to keep with the lease payment,” said HRSB member Gin Yee.
The province has an August deadline to inform building owners what their intentions are.
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The HRSB already knows what they want to see, and have written to the Education Department asking them to keep all ten of their schools.
“We want the province to purchase all the schools because we need them,” Yee said.
“If you look at the population around those ten schools, they’re either at capacity or over capacity”
Big price tag
If the provincial government decides to purchase the 39 schools, it could end up costing the province more than $700 million. That’s because on top of the cost to lease the schools, taxpayers will also be on the hook for more than$300 million in interest.
The NSGEU says they warned the government years ago they would be in this situation and that there’s no proof P3 contracts are a good value for taxpayers.
“It looks really nice right at the front but in the long run, we can’t afford it. We can’t afford to pay back these companies that invest in public infrastructure because they’re in it to make money,” said union president Joan Jessome.
The education department says P3 contracts helped government respond to an urgent need for schools in the late 1990’s.
A spokesperson for the department confirms they have the option to purchase each school, terminate the lease, or negotiate a new lease. At this point, no decisions have been made.
While the education department mulls what will happen to the schools, the NSGEU is worried government may turn to a P3 contract to replace the troubling VG hospital. Something that could cause more of a headache to taxpayers.
“They want their books to look good for the term that they are in for the government today, but the books will not look good for our kids, they will not look good for our grandchildren, cause they will be paying for the mistakes made with P3,” said Jessome.