Province spending $110.5M on four new schools

The Saskatchewan government plans to build four more new schools as part of a $110.5-million plan to fund infrastructure projects for school divisions

The new schools include a replacement for Ducharme Elementary School in La Loche, a new francophone elementary school in Regina, a kindergarten to Grade 12 replacement for Blaine Lake Composite School and a kindergarten to Grade 12 school in Lanigan.

The Lanigan school would consolidate the current elementary school and high school. Two Lloydminster high schools — Holy Rosary

and Lloydminster Comprehensive — will also get renovations.

The province allocated $130 million for education infrastructure as part of its $7.5-billion plan to help Saskatchewan’s economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s awesome,” La Loche Mayor Robert St. Pierre said in an interview on Tuesday. “We need good news.”

St. Pierre said Ducharme dates back to the 1950s and portables that were supposed to be temporary have been attached to the main school building for 20 years.

The northern village, located about 520 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, has been one of the communities hit hardest by the pandemic, with more than 200 reported COVID-19 cases.

The infrastructure projects announced on Tuesday are in addition to seven new schools and three renovation projects announced in the budget last week.

The new schools announced in the budget include two facilities with two joint-use elementary schools in Regina, a new elementary school and high school in Carrot River, a new elementary school to replace three schools in Saskatoon and a replacement for St. Frances Elementary School in Saskatoon.