Hint of construction delays rattles school board officials

CALGARY — Premier Jim Prentice’s recent comments that new school projects could be deferred while the provincial government grapples with an “unprecedented fiscal hole” triggered by plunging oil prices was met with concern by school board officials already coping with skyrocketing student enrolment and bursting classrooms.

“To hear any suggestion that these schools could be delayed, even if it’s just managing expectations, is very concerning,” said Michael Janz, vice-president for the Alberta School Boards Association. “Our communities are booming and we need to give our parents predictability where their children will be attending in the years to come.”

In a year-end interview, Prentice warned of a projected $6.25-billion “fiscal hole” in the upcoming budget year and a subsequent $5-billion shortfall the following year due to declining oil prices that could stall capital projects, including new schools promised during the October byelection campaign.

“You have to go back a generation — maybe several — to find a time when Alberta has faced some of the challenges that we face now,” Prentice said. “These are going to be very difficult challenges ... 2015 is going to be a pivotal year for our province.”

Yet, it was only two months ago when Prentice, flanked by Education Minister Gordon Dirks and Infrastructure Minister Manmeet Bhullar, unveiled Phase Three of the province’s school capital framework — an ambitious plan to build 55 new schools and modernize another 20 facilities by 2018.

That’s in addition to two previous announcements that saw the government, under former premiers Ed Stelmach and Alison Redford, pledge to build and upgrade 155 school facilities.

Janz said school districts understand the need for fiscal prudence, but any delay in the construction of new schools would be the “equivalent of coal in our stockings on Christmas morning.”

Joy Bowen-Eyre, chair of the Calgary Board of Education, said she was surprised by Prentice’s remarks given the board has been working closely with the province and was under the impression capital school projects were moving “full-steam ahead.”

“These schools are not ‘nice-tohave’ schools, these are ‘need-tohave’ schools,” said Bowen-Eyre, adding the board has saw its student enrolment jump 3.4 per cent, or 3,700 kids, to 114,500 students this fall.

Calgary Catholic School District chair Linda Wellman was unavailable for comment Sunday. But a district spokeswoman said the board would reserve comment until the Tory government provided specific details regarding possible delays of new schools.