Surrey schools face overcrowding issue

With the writ dropping tomorrow, parents in Surrey are determined to make school overcrowding a key issue in the upcoming provincial election campaign.

It’s an ongoing problem in Surrey since the population is growing faster than any other municipality on the Lower Mainland and where more students are being packed into portables.

Earl Marriott School, built for 1,500 students is bursting at the seams with a third more students than capacity – and until another school is built, it will get worse and ultimately affect their kids’ education, says Bob Holmes from the Parent Advisory Committee.

Surrey is in catch-up mode with two elementary schools under construction, a new secondary school promised and additions to other high schools. It’s been five years since a new school was constructed in the city; which has one-tenth of B.C.’s school population

“We are 10 years behind, even if these schools were there today its still no enough to accommodate the 7,300 students in portables today,” says Harry Bains, Surrey-Newton NDP MLA.

One in 10 children in Surrey get educated in portables and there are just under 300 portables in the city with one secondary school having 17. Over-crowding has prompted students at two high schools to have their protests with kids demanding the province fix the problem.

“It’s been growing very quick and the planning of the purchase of the land is in place,” says Gordon Hogg, South Surrey Liberal MLA. “We are hoping to have the full funding for the capital project soon.”

Surrey’s school population has been growing at a rate of one to two percent a year for the last decade and projections suggest this growth rate will continue.

To date, the building commitments for new schools is $120 million which is less than half of the estimated $273 million needed to solve the school shortfall problem. At least 10 new schools are needed in Surrey just to catch up.