The New Westminster school district has put a price tag on its school building needs, and it’s a big one: $302 million.
School District 40 trustees approved the district’s capital plan submission for 2024-25 at their June 20 board meeting. The submission sets out the district’s five-year capital funding requests to the B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care.
One of the biggest-ticket items in the capital plan submission this year is the need for a new middle school in the Fraser River zone, on the west side of the city.
The district also listed the need for that school as a top priority last year, when it asked for $65.1 million. This year’s plan pegs the cost at $83.4 million.
School district secretary-treasurer Bettina Ketcham said the cost increase is driven by both soaring building costs and the fact that the district is now planning a 600-student school, rather than the 500-student school it requested last year.
The new middle school is one of two schools the district needs in the Fraser River zone to cope with rapidly escalating enrolment at schools in the city’s fast-growing core — where École Qayqayt Elementary School, Lord Kelvin Elementary School and Fraser River Middle School are all bursting at the seams.
Ketcham said work is “well underway” at finding a place to build the middle school, and the district anticipates identifying the site during the 2023-24 school year. The district received ministry support for that land acquisition this past March, which Ketcham said was a “really significant win” for SD40.
Two new elementary schools needed for downtown area
Hand-in-hand with the new middle school, the New West school district also previously identified the need for a new, 600-student elementary school, which will be built on the Fraser River Middle School site adjacent to Simcoe Park. That school hasn’t yet received funding. However, because the province has already approved that project to move to the business case stage, it’s not included in this year’s capital plan submission.
New to the district’s capital plan this year is a request for land acquisition for yet another school site to accommodate growth in the downtown core.
Ketcham said the new Fraser River elementary school will serve the district well for the short and medium term, but projections show the area will continue to see a high level of growth.
In anticipation of that growth, the district is asking for $24 million for land acquisition for another school to serve the downtown area.
Land, school space needed in Queensborough
Outside of the Fraser River zone, the district’s capital plan submission also targets funding for another high-growth area of the city: Queensborough.
The district is looking for $6.9 million to add eight more classrooms to the forthcoming Queen Elizabeth Elementary School expansion, plus $14.4 million to acquire land in Queensborough and $95.6 million to build an expansion to Queensborough Middle School that would accommodate a secondary school wing.
(You can find out more about the Queensborough plans here.)
What else is in School District 40's capital plan submission for 2024-25?
Other highlights of the capital plan submission:
- RCAP/POWER: The district is asking for $10 million to acquire a site for its alternate high school education programs, Royal City Alternate Program and POWER.
- Land acquisition in Sapperton: The district is acknowledging the need for a future school site to accommodate future growth on the east side of the city; it’s pegged the land value at $11.6 million.
- Hume Park Elementary replacement: The district is continuing to ask for future funding for the Hume Park Elementary site in in response to the Sapperton Green development. It pegs replacement costs at $44.6 million.
You can find a full report on the School District 40 capital plan submission for 2024-25 in the agenda for the June 20 school board meeting.
