Overcrowded schools are a growing problem, but school boards struggling to get new ones built

As the largest and fastestgrowing school district in British Columbia, Surrey's boom is straining its schools, pushing it to try unconventional options to accommodate the surge.

Clusters of portable class‐ rooms have become a famili‐ ar sight. Some schools have rejected in-catchment stu‐ dents for lack of space. This fall, a third of Surrey's high schools will extend the school day, creating an addi‐ tional learning period and boosting capacity by 15 per cent.

"That's going to be a chal‐ lenge for both staff and stu‐ dents to adjust to - and we don't see that as a temporary measure. That's going to be more of a permanent mea‐ sure as we move forward and really try and manage this growth," said Mark Pearmain, district superintendent and CEO.

Overcrowding has been an ongoing issue for Surrey for years, but it's not alone. Multiple school boards across the country are grap‐ pling with the issue, or pro‐ jecting they will be soon.

After a slight dip in 20202021 (the first full school year of the pandemic), Surrey School District's enrolment soared past its usual in‐ creases of about 800 studen‐ ts annually to more than 2,400 in each of the past two.

Approximately 83 per cent of its 124 schools are over ca‐ pacity, with the district's overall utilization rate (the number of students enrolled divided by classroom capac‐ ity) sitting at 103 per cent.

Staffers are currently re‐ searching hybrid learning for senior high schoolers and having students attend two out of three terms in a yearlong trimester system, as the district anticipates further in‐ creases after a planned tran‐ sit expansion connects Sur‐ rey to downtown Vancouver.

While more housing is top of mind for federal, provincial and municipal governments, "as we talk about infrastruc‐ ture, schools are a very im‐ portant piece," too, Pearmain said.

WATCH | Population surges in different commu‐ nities worsen school over‐ crowding:

One province over in Al‐ berta, there's a comparable situation. Migration from B.C. and Ontario has boosted its population. Enrolment has surged as a result at both the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and Edmonton Public Schools after an early-pan‐ demic dip.

Calgary's current systemwide utilization rate is 92 per cent across its 251 schools, which CBE projects will rise to 100 per cent in the next two years. Given recent leaps in enrolment, Edmonton Public projects its 213 schools will reach 100 per cent utilization by 2026-2027.

Smaller communities aren't immune, either. The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, headquartered in Peterborough, Ont., is ex‐ ploring redrawing its school boundaries and shifting spe‐ cial program offerings as it contends with a board-wide utilization rate of 97 per cent.

Schools 'a canary in a coal mine' for change: expert

A "perfect storm" of factors in the past few years has contributed to the over‐ crowding, says urban and re‐ gional planner Jack Ammen‐ dolia, from the affordability crisis influencing where peo‐ ple choose to raise their chil‐ dren, to the increase in new‐ comers to Canada.

It already takes upwards of three to five years to apply for a new school or expan‐ sion, get approval for it and start building. Boards start at a disadvantage: proposals begin with schools required to demonstrate need - thus already struggling with ca‐ pacity.

WATCH | Building new schools is a process that's 'very much catch-up':

The consultant says schools are "a bit of a canary in a coal mine" for communi‐ ties.

"The school board is the one going, 'Holy cow, we have eight extra [kinder‐ garten students] that no one projected for' or, 'There's 100 extra kids that showed up at the school. Where did they come from?'" said Ammen‐ dolia, a managing partner of Toronto-area consulting firm Watson & Associates.

School boards don't dic‐ tate immigration policy or de‐ termine their regions' hous‐ ing developments, he pointed out, but still must react quickly to population shifts, since kids are required to go to school.

They also rely on provinci‐ al funding for everything from operations to new con‐ struction, so "if [they] didn't get the money for that addi‐ tion ... they're a bit handcuf‐ fed, as well," he said.

According to Gus Riveros, an associate professor in Western University's educa‐ tion faculty, "funding overall for public education has not kept pace with inflation and other needs, so what we see is that the backlog in school construction and school re‐ pairs keeps growing."

Against that backdrop, boards may then lean on what should be temporary measures - like portable classrooms - for too long, which is not a suitable solu‐ tion, said Riveros, whose re‐ search includes the use of portables in Ontario.

Riveros has found portables being used for more than five and even 10 years. He says that's prob‐ lematic for reasons including high maintenance require‐ ments over time, concerns with mould, pests, ventilation and air quality, and the loss of outdoor school space. It also means more kids and teens vying for common areas such as libraries, gyms, cafeterias and washrooms.

"The physical conditions of the learning environment have an impact on the learn‐ ing experience of the studen‐ ts."

More collaboration, new processes needed

Stakeholders involved - from parents to educators, urban planners to community members - are calling for more innovative thinking and better co-ordination to ad‐ dress the issue faster.

Patricia Collins, an asso‐ ciate professor at Queen's University's school of urban and regional planning, has studied school closures in Ontario. She notes that a community that closes a school might find themselves just five to 10 years strug‐ gling with overcrowding in those that remain.

She'd like to see provinces encourage municipalities and school boards to better align their borders as well as their population projections and planning. She also hopes for collaborative solutions, for instance a school and a mu‐ nicipal facility sharing a site, or a public school adjoining a Catholic one.

"I think you really do need some more hands-on in‐ volvement at the provincial level to ensure that there is just more co-ordination hap‐ pening across those different entities," she said.

Ammendolia agrees, say‐ ing that the complexity of this issue also requires bring‐ ing provincial ministries, de‐ velopers and private stake‐ holders to the table.

"It has to be something that everyone looks at ... as a collaborative effort. Then I think there's some real possi‐ bility for schools that not on‐ ly get built faster, but get built when they're needed," he said.

Back in Surrey, parent Cindy Dalglish's two kids have attended overcrowded schools for years, including in

an elementary school jug‐ gling multiple portables.

Now, her elder daughter is at a high school extending its day.

Regardless of which politi‐ cal party is in charge, the way provincial ministries of edu‐ cation fund new schools and expansions must change, she says.

"It needs to be based on projections and [the] current state and making those moves happen a lot faster."