Editor: I left the joint School District 35 and Township of Langley committee meeting on Monday (Sept. 29) feeling frustration. I wanted to speak up and share my concern and some of the information I have just learned regarding this very important issue in our community.
You may or may not be aware of the changes made by the province which occurred just recently. They have a drastic effect on how our provincial government funds the building of new schools.
I am not privy to all the minute details, but from what I have just learned at our joint committee meeting, the most dramatic change is that now, in order for the province to consider the business case by the school district for new additional schools, the district has to provide 50 per cent of that funding.
To use the example of the much-needed new high school on the Willoughby slope, which would be a $60-plus million project, that would mean the district would need to provide $30 million in funding in order for the province to even consider their request. Even at that, they do not guarantee the matching funding will be offered.
This expectation is one any school district would find almost impossible to meet, consequently making the funding of new schools also nearly impossible.
So where does that leave us? Over my first term on council, the continual answer I have been given is that the continued growth in Willoughby is what the school district will use to make its business case to the province to prove the need for new schools. No new growth and the need for new schools is gone and the case for additional capital funding along with it.
Yes, we have been grateful to see three new schools in the last few years, but that is far from the total solution to the problem. With these new changes, it is crystal clear there are no additional schools coming for many years to come.
The province’s solution to the continued overcrowding in the Willoughby slope schools is to bus the children to other neighbourhoods within the district, such as Aldergrove or Walnut Grove. This is absolutely outrageous. How can this plan of dealing with the additional growth be even considered a feasible option by the province?
How can we on council be expected to continue to vote to approve new Neighbourhood Plans for the Willoughby area, when we now know for certain there will be no new schools to accommodate the students, even if the growth continues in Willoughby? In my opinion we can’t, given this information.
This has to be to the school district’s and Township council’s priority in the upcoming term, and we need to be united in our fight to see the province address the school needs of our community and fix these unreasonable changes.
Councillor Michelle Sparrow,
Langley Township
