A rent increase and licence agreement with the local school district could force one of Western Canada’s oldest school house to close its doors.
The Strawberry Vale Co-op Preschool currently pays $230 a month for its working space in Saanich, outside the B.C. capital city of Victoria. But the Greater Victoria School District, which owns the building that houses the preschool, intends to increase rent to $1,079 a month by July of next year, a nearly 500 per cent increase.
“This money is going to have to come from increased tuition and increased tuition is going to price us out of the whole preschool business,” said preschool vice-president Angie Hentze.
School district officials say the new rent will bring the facility in line with others in the district.
“Some providers are paying $230 per month for the same kind of service that some providers are paying $1,100 a month and so equity was an important principle in our discussion,” Mark Walsh, Greater Victoria School District Secretary Treasurer, said.
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Walsh said the new rent level would be used to cover maintenance costs and depreciation.
However, since 1951 Strawberry Vale Co-op Preschool has been doing its own maintenance.
Parents volunteer for many tasks and have raised $70,000 for upgrades.
As well, they say they work tirelessly to access grant funding even going as far as getting the building a heritage designation.
Parent Jocelyn Lukow says the preschool has widespread support in the community.
“I think it’s not just our families that currently have preschoolers that will rally for this school, it’s the community at large,” she said.
“We all recognize the immense benefit that it brings to our children, our families and the greater community. So, we are going to be heard.”
The parents’ campaign to fight the rent hike begins Monday night with families holding what they’re calling a “Play In” outside of the school district office before preschool representatives have the chance to present their argument to the board.
“We’re going to ask formally for an extension to the end of the year so we can work with them to come to an agreement that works for everybody,” Hentze said.
It’s not the first time the community has rallied around the preschool.
It almost became a dressing room as part of a nearby baseball diamond facility in the 1970s and was on the brink of being knocked down in 1994 when the new Strawberry Vale Elementary School was built.
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