While the B.C. budget may be good news for families, it’s not good news for Surrey schools.
That’s according to parent group Surrey Students Now, which issued a release saying the budget has “good news for families across B.C. when it comes to housing and child care” but that it’s “disappointed to see no new funding for much-needed capital to reduce portables” in the jam-packed district.
Surrey Students Now (SSN), a group led by education advocate Cindy Dalglish, says that while the budget notes 3,700 new teachers need to be hired and that $2 billion has been dedicated to “maintain, replace, renovate or expand schools across B.C., from Surrey to Prince George,'” no new dollars for capital projects in Surrey were announced.
See also: Surrey Board of Trade praises ‘balanced’ B.C. budget, but wants an LRT commitment
See also: Surrey mayor says B.C. budget is ‘people focused’
See also: VIDEO: Top 10 B.C. budget highlights
“The 320-plus portables costing the district $5 million from the district’s operations budget will continue to exist,” the SSN release notes.
In February, the school district provided an update on active capital projects, outlining 15 current capital projects in various stages of planning and construction.
Two of those projects were mentioned in the B.C. budget: 655 new student spaces for a new Edgewood Drive Elementary in South Surrey (set to open in 2020) and 1,500 in in the new Salish Secondary School in Cloverdale (set to open this September).
“Some of these previously announced projects are still waiting for the funds to be transferred from the province,” according to the SSN release.
They’re correct.
A new Douglas area elementary in South Surrey; a Sullivan Elementary addition; and projects to expand Coyote Creek, William Watson and Frost Road elementaries are “pending Ministry of Education funding approval,” according to the district’s report last week.
“Surrey continues to grow as a city and schools are bearing the brunt of this growth,” SSN stresses in its release.
In an interview with the Now-Leader last week ahead of the B.C. budget’s reveal, Surrey school trustee Terry Allen said portables are, and will continue to be, the “number one issue” in the school board’s budget.
See related: Surrey must create 168 new classrooms, hire 300 teachers by September (April 28, 2017)
See related: Surrey to be short portables in September (Aug. 24, 2017)
“We put in 50 (portables) last year,” Allen noted. “We’re already talking that we’re going to need a minimum of 10 more portables so those are cost factors. Then 10 becomes 15 and we have to buy them, place them…. We just don’t have enough schools. The board’s position will never change: The students and children of Surrey should not be held for ransom because the province isn’t providing the appropriate amount of classroom space.”
What happens, explained Allen, is a loss of resource rooms and other extras.
“They’re just not there anymore because we’re having to use everything possible for classroom space.”
www.facebook.com
