Coast Mountains School District has formally asked the provincial government for money to replace Mount Elizabeth Middle Secondary School and to merge Kildala and Nechako elementaries into one new facility.
The request, if approved, would result in more than $100 million of construction.
Included in the wholesale consolidation of local public school education would be placing Kitimat City High in a new Mount Elizabeth facility.
The request stems from the provincial education ministry’s call for five-year capital project plans from public school districts around the province for consideration beginning in 2019.
In 2017 dollars, the Mount Elizabeth project carries a price tag of $65.6 million while the Kildala-Nechako project would cost $37.8 million for a total of $103.4 million.
School district officials have based their request on a report prepared last year by Cascade Facilities Management Consultants, following on provincial guidelines for school districts to assess the physical condition of school facilities, while forecasting future needs based on anticipated student enrolments over the next decade with an eye to capital expenditure submissions to the province.
Based on the report, the school district is asking for the Mount Elizabeth project to move ahead in the 2019/2020 budget year and the elementary school project in the 2023/2024 budget year.
Key to the report are enrolment projections so that the size of facilities match the number of anticipated students.
The report notes the education ministry has set a target utilization rate of 85 per cent for the school district’s schools, a critical benchmark when new construction is being considered.
“The impact of being below the ministry capacity utilization factor is that priority for capital projects from that district can be reduced when the ministry assesses competing district submissions,” the report states.
In regards to the current Mount Elizabeth facility, the current capacity is 1,175 students while the current Grade 7 to 12 enrolment is just 426, a number forecast to rise to 460.
That utilization rate, combined with the state of the facility, is propelling the call for a new school for 500 students, including those attending Kitimat City High.
Kildala Elementary and Nechako Elementary also have low current utilization rates, the former at 44 per cent and the latter at 51 per cent, leading the report to conclude both facilities could be replaced with a new one to hold 500 students.
Not included in the report’s student population projections are any of the planned or proposed large-scale industrial projects for the region, but it does say projections and planning can change should there be any economic activity that would boost the region’s population.
The Cascade Facilities report was commissioned so that the school district would have an accurate body of information ready to present to the provincial government when asking for construction money.
“As the district’s long-range facilities plan shows, these buildings are larger than the expected student population needs will be in the foreseeable future and in need of considerable renovations,” said school district secretary-treasurer Alanna Cameron on the rationale behind its Kitimat construction request.
While the Cascade report does lay out a timeline for planning and construction of new facilities, there’s no guarantee when anything might happen because project financing comes from the province.
“If the ministry approves any of the projects …. the district would begin consultation with all groups that would be impacted,” Cameron explained.
“Any construction projects after approval would still require a substantial amount of planning and consultation before implementation.”
The school district also submitted construction money requests for two other projects — $29.6 million for Thornhill Elementary in Thornhill in the 2020/2021 budget year and $30.5 million to replace and consolidate Hazelton elementary schools in 2023/2024.
