The Alberta NDP announced funding for a new school in Beaumont, Alta. if elected in the upcoming provincial election.
The high school would host 1,600 students – a much needed infrastructure upgrade to the growing city about five minutes south of Edmonton’s southern outskirts in Leduc County.
The Black Gold School Division, which includes schools in Beaumont, Leduc, Devon and other areas south of Edmonton, is expecting the Beaumont’s high school population to grow by nearly 2,000 kids over the next three years.
It is expected to be at 100 per cent capacity by next year.
Black Gold School Division ward chair Esther Eckert said the BGSD, St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Separate School Division (STAR Catholic) and the City of Beaumont have been working together to find a school site that meets the needs of both school boards for a joint high school.
She added Beaumont city council also recently committed municipal-owned land south of the West Recreation Site on Township Road 505 for the school, as well as funding for construction of services to the site, including utilities.
With its easy access to south Edmonton and affordable homes, the bedroom community has grown rapidly over the past two decades and now, the kids from all those young families are in need of school spaces that grows as they do.
While the UCP’s 2023 budget included funding for a limited number of schools across the province, including construction of new schools in Edmonton and Calgary, it did not include funding for a school in Beaumont.
“Danielle Smith and the UCP aren’t interested in supporting public education. The evidence is clear,” said Cam Heenan, Alberta NDP candidate for Leduc-Beaumont in an announcement Monday.
“They increased school and transportation fees and hiked education taxes, with nothing to show for it. Families, teachers, and, most importantly, the students in Beaumont have waited long enough. It’s time for action.”
Beaumont is the third-fastest growing city in Alberta, with more than 3,000 residents making the city their new home in the last five years, said Rod Loyola, the NDP’s infrastructure critic who joined Heenan for the announcement.
Heenan said families are moving to Beaumont because they can see themselves building lives and families there; however, the lack of school space is causing families to travel outside of their jurisdiction for school “because the ones closest to them are far beyond capacity.”
“This is unsustainable,” he said. “We need to support students, staff and families by building schools and bringing down class sizes.”
Alberta Education said it’s up to school boards to submit three-year capital plans to the ministry that outline their capital needs.
“These plans are then used to develop the provincial capital plan,” spokesperson Emily Peckham said. “Education, with support from Infrastructure, prepares a list of the highest priority projects. These are considered and prioritized based on evaluation criteria under the categories of: health and safety, enrolment pressures, building conditions, functionality and programming, and legal requirements,” she added.
Peckham said the latest budget advances 58 priority school projects across the province.
“Alberta’s government continues to recognize the need for school projects across the province, and projects that were not approved for funding as part the 2023 capital plan will be considered again when additional funding is available if they are still a top priority for the school authority.”
The education ministry said since 2014, four school projects have been completed and opened in Beaumont.