Chinook facilities report provides update on shape of school buildings
The ongoing maintenance efforts within the Chinook School Division have made it possible for school buildings to receive positive ratings.
The annual facilities status report was presented at a regular Chinook Board of Education meeting, Oct. 10.
Chinook Chief Financial Officer Sharie Sloman said after the meeting these maintenance measures and procedures are making a difference.
“We feel that the schools are in pretty good shape for the age they are,” she mentioned. “We have to realize that some of those school buildings are getting quite a bit of age on them. … We’re always going to run into certain issues along the way, but we do try to make sure that the mechanical and all that is functioning as well as it can and we also try to make the buildings appearance so that the kids are having a good place to come to school.”
The school division’s facilities and maintenance budget for 2022-23 was $14,848,603. The maintenance department completed 2,078 work requisitions and 88 per cent of approved minor renovation projects in Chinook schools during the past year.
The maintenance department has been carrying out an annual assessment of all school facilities since December 2005, which provides measurable data for each site. The ratings are based on different categories, including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural, roofing, accessibility, exterior conditions, health and safety, yard site development, interior finishes and functionality.
The overall rating of 25 out of 28 schools increased during the past 18 years. The rating of 23 schools increased with more than five per cent during this period. The average increase in the overall condition of school facilities was 10.79 per cent.
Sloman noted that the Ministry of Education’s Preventative Maintenance and Repair (PMR) program has made a real difference to assist with maintenance of facilities.
This program started 11 years ago and these projects are usually valued at under $1 million. Chinook School Division received $2,244,282 of PMR funding in the 2022-23 financial year. The amount allocated to each school division is based on the total gross area of all schools.
A key benefit of the PMR program is the availability predictable funding from the ministry for maintenance of school facilities. However, the cost of some facility projects can present a challenge when decisions are made on the allocation of PMR funding to schools.
“That is something that we have to watch,” she said. “So we do try to balance that out and basically doing these facility assessments give us an idea of where they’re at. We always try to hot spot the areas where we think there’s going to be concerns and then just keeping up that regular maintenance.”
An example of this dilemma is the cost to upgrade the entire mechanical system at the Swift Current Comprehensive High School
“The Swift Current Comprehensive is one that we do need to do some work on, but because it’s such a big project, it is going to be costly,” she said. “So we’re trying to find all the avenues we can to help and get some ministry money to make those improvements there.”
The school division is following a twopronged approach in dealing with the funding needs for the Swift Current Comprehensive projects.
“We have included it under PMR,” she noted. “It’s just a good way to give the ministry information about what is out there for buildings, because the ministry can’t put money into helping keep up the buildings if they don’t know what those costs are. So we’re putting it there and we’ve applied through major capital.”
The Swift Current Comprehensive projects are ranked 10th on the ministry’s major capital list, but the school division does not know how long it will be before funding is available.
“It depends on what priorities come into the ministry,” Sloman said. “So we could be on there for two years. We could be on there for 10 years. We could get bumped. We don’t know really where we’re at with that, but hoping that it is on the ministry radar and that they will then start looking at giving us some funds for that.”
The school division has been making significant progress with a project to implement electrical light upgrades at schools. It has resulted in upgrades to 70 per cent of facilities lighting and the work will continue, depending on availability of maintenance staff and funds.
“We’re starting to notice as we’re moving on that there’s energy savings and when we’re able to use our own staff, we’re able to get those costs back,” she said. “So it’s starting to show the benefits.”
The estimated annual electrical savings from LED upgrades during the past six years were $68,000. These cost savings will continue to increase as more upgrades are completed and as electricity costs increase.