Catholic board shut out again

‘Disappointed’ to be left out of latest round as board seeks funds for new schools to meet rising demand

WATERLOO REGION — The Catholic school board has struck out again with its pitch to open a new high school in Kitchener.

The Liberal government left the Waterloo Catholic District School Board off the latest list of 79 new schools or expansions in Ontario. That’s now happened in back-toback funding years.

“Being left out of this round of funding was disappointing,” board spokesperson John Shewchuk said.

“But we’re also realistic that there’s a limited amount of funding available and all school boards have needs.”

Ontario released the full list of school expansions, valued at $784 million, on Wednesday.

The list names two local schools for $21 million in total funding.

Politicians announced them in January: a new public elementary school in southwest Kitchener, and eight new classrooms for a French Catholic high school in Cambridge.

The last time the Catholic board received funding for a new school was in 2015 to replace St. Brigid Catholic Elementary School in Ayr.

The Ministry of Education has said it can only fund a portion of the requests it receives for new schools and expansions.

This region, which is adding students, has scored big in some expansion announcements, less in others. With four per cent of Ontario’s students, it received eight per cent of expansion funding in 2015. This year it received three per cent of expansion funding.

Both local boards are pitching new high schools as top funding priorities.

The Catholic board is looking for a high school to go in east Kitchener off Fairway Road near the Grand River. The public high school is looking for a school to go in southwest Kitchener. The combined funding request to the province could reach $64 million.

Shewchuk said the Catholic board intends to pitch the province on four expansion priorities for the next round of school funding.

They are the Kitchener high school, a replacement for St. Clement Catholic Elementary School, a new elementary school in the southeast Galt section of Cambridge (to be shared with the public board), and a new elementary school in southwest Kitchener.

Local Catholic schools are filling up again after classrooms emptied for almost a decade while enrolment plunged.

“We do have significant pressures in our system, which is why we requested the funding we requested, so we’re hopeful the next round will free up some dollars to help us address those pressures,” Shewchuk said.

A new school announced in January for the Waterloo Region District School Board leaves the public board with seven unfulfilled expansion requests.