$11M in ‘crucial’ funding announced for FACE School

Quebec government pledges cash to help begin planning for needed renovations

The Quebec government has announced $11 million in funding for the first phase of eventual renovations at FACE School in downtown Montreal.

The school, housed in the former Montreal High School on University Street, has been in a state of decrepitude for years.

Both an elementary and high school that offers French and English classes, all specialized in fine arts, FACE operates under the Commission Scolaire de Montréal, which owns the building, and the English Montreal School Board, which runs the school in partnership with the CSDM.

The funding, announced on Friday, will go toward the CSDM. The board has already put in $25 million in minor repairs and maintenance since 2012 to keep the school open.

The money will be used to put together plans and preliminary studies for the eventual renovations and help the two boards find a solution for relocating the school’s 1,400 students during the repairs.

The entire renovation project is estimated to cost roughly $160 million and could take as long as seven years. The Liberal government had refused to fund the project last year.

Though there was no mention of future funding on Friday. In a statement confirming the $11 million, Quebec Education Minister Jean-François Roberge said he hopes the money will “allow us to move forward and begin the process of rehabilitation.”

In an interview, CSDM president Catherine Harel Bourdon called the funding “crucial” and a sign the government has recognized the board’s needs.

“It’s great news, we’re starting the more active phase of the project,” Harel Bourdon said. “It shows the government supports the project, and it’s a school that really needs it.”

Roberge said the funding is in line with the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s commitment to addressing the deterioration of school infrastructure in the province.

The government has an even greater incentive to fund the project, he added, given the school is housed in a heritage building that’s in “a state of great dilapidation.”

The building was built in 1914 and expanded 10 years later. It’s electrical, heating and plumbing systems all need to be redone, as do its floors. Its facade also needs to be restored.

Neither of the two school boards has a building at its disposal that could house the students during the renovations, but both boards reiterated their will Friday to work together to find a solution.

It shows the government supports the project, and it’s a school that really needs it.