The New Westminster school district is setting aside an extra $250,000 to “future-proof” its need for land.
The money was part of the district’s amended budget for 2021/22, approved by school trustees at a board meeting Feb. 22. The district's preliminary budget had called for $520,000 to be put towards its capital fund; trustees agreed to up that contribution to $770,000.
The original amount will see $250,000 put towards the Queen Elizabeth Elementary expansion, $210,000 towards completion of the Wellness Centre at NWSS and $60,000 for technology-related purchases. The new $250,000 is aimed at future land purchases.
Secretary-treasurer Bettina Ketcham recommended the move, noting the district’s long-range facilities plan points to the need to acquire land. She said the district needs to “future-proof” for projected student population growth over the coming decade.
“We know that we are a land-constrained district that has a significant need for capacity at this time,” she said.
Ketcham told trustees it’s not uncommon for districts to set aside money for future land purchases, and she said it’s particularly important for New Westminster as a growing district.
“It would be prudent of the board to consider the need to set aside about $250,000 and perhaps build that nest egg over time,” she said.
That way, she said, when the district identifies an available parcel of land, it will be able to act to secure the necessary property.
Small school sites, rapid growth put the squeeze on New West schools
The School District 40 long-range facilities plan, adopted by trustees in the fall, identified a couple of intertwined challenges related to school sites in the city.
For one, existing school sites are undersized by provincial standards, meaning there isn’t room on existing properties to build expansions or larger schools to meet demand.
For another, New Westminster is a fast-growing city, and school enrolment reflects that fact – the district’s projections show a continued increase in school enrolment out to 2035, with the highest growth concentrated in the coming five years.
If no new schools were built, the district says it would have a shortfall of 1,048 seats across the board by 2025, 1,340 by 2030 and 1,921 by 2041 – with most of the need for space being in the central area of the city.
That growth is straining capacity at city schools, particularly in the city’s core, where Qayqayt and Lord Kelvin elementary schools are both bursting at the seams.
Continued growth in Queensborough and an almost-at-capacity New Westminster Secondary School also have the district eyeing the potential need for a new combined middle/secondary school in Queensborough.
The school district has already asked the B.C. Ministry of Education for money to cover school site acquisition. Its capital planning request for 2022/23 asks for $50 million for two new school sites: one for a new middle school in the Fraser River zone (the central and western part of the city) and one in Queensborough.
The ministry announces its capital funding decisions in March.
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