The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) approved the use of capital reserve cash to help fund overwhelming growth in city public schools.

The Calgary Board of Education Board of Trustees unanimously approved a motion to use $11.4 million over the next three years for the establishment and management of a Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment (FF&E) fund and $1.3 million to relocate six existing modular classrooms. The funds will come from the Capital Reserves (funded almost exclusively from the disposition of school properties).

“It proposes a new centralized and more proactive approach to the procurement of [FF&E] for CBE schools welcoming new students on a daily basis,” said Joanne Pitman, CBE chief superintendent.

The motions were passed in response to recommendations from Dany Breton, superintendent of facilities and environment services. These expenditures are expected to address several enrolment issues that have impacted the school system for the last six years. The FF&E fund will cover the cost of basic classroom furniture to handle the influx of students.

The Connaught and Prairie Sky schools were named as high priorities in the agenda for the relocation of modulars. Prairie Sky School is currently operating at a utilization of 110 per cent with a capacity of 916 students. The addition of four of the six modulars from Somerset School will increase capacity to 1,036 students while reducing the utilization rate to 92 per cent in the next school year.

The other two modulars from Banting & Best School will be added to four previously received modulars at Connaught. They will lower the utilization rate from 108 to 82 per cent and increase the capacity from 399 to 579.

“These schools are or will be faced with the greatest enrollment pressures,” said Breton.

The CBE has seen enrollment increase by 13,000 students in the last two years and expects an increment of 17,000 students above current enrolment levels within the next three years. These factors resulted in a shortage of classroom space and a spillover of students into other schools that are also close to reaching their capacities.

Not only has it resulted in students attending schools further from their neighbourhoods, but also in non-typical facilities such as foyers being converted into classrooms, according to the CBE admin report.

The expected benefits of the capital fund

The initiative is expected to save costs for the school administrations and allow that money to be directed back into staffing and supporting students.  There will also be a more effective use of time that Trustee Patricia Bolger said would “return approximately 500 hours of school system administration back to the system.”

The FF&E will enhance the learning environments by reducing administrative burdens by $4 million per year. This will allow funding to be focused on educational resources. Breton said that although in the past school administrations easily handled procurement of new furniture, the current enrollment rate calls for new measures to be taken. He pointed out that schools can’t benefit from bulk purchase discounts by purchasing new desks individually. The CBE will also benefit from reduced transportation costs.

“With students arriving every single day, this is one way in which we can support our administration in creating welcoming, caring, and respectful environments. In that, focusing on teaching and learning rather than procuring furnishings,” said Trustee Bolger.

It’s a short-term solution while new neighbourhoods await new school construction. New schools have been approved for design funding after a recent announcement from the province. For now, the schools in question are expected to remain in overflow status even with the modulars. 

Concerns were expressed on how students have been transferred to schools that are further away from their homes and the inconveniences such circumstances cause. 

“I receive regular calls and emails from families who are struggling to send their young children to schools that are sometimes considerably outside of their community,” said Wards 5 and 10 Trustee Marilyn Dennis.

“What we need are more schools built in new and growing communities but modulars are a way we can provide relieve in our enrolment pressure in the shorter term.”

Ward 5 Calgary city councillor Raj Dhaliwal said that when he’s knocking on doors or out in the community, the number one question he’s asked is “can you help us get a new school.” Coun. Dhaliwal said he’s talked recently with Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides about the growth pressures for families in northeast Calgary.

“In Ward 5 we don’t need portables, we need actual structures, we need buildings,” he said.

“Our communities are growing exponentially with lots of people moving in; interprovincial migration, international migration, people coming on work permits but we don’t have enough schools.”

Dhaliwal said people are moving to these areas under the promise of a new school in the near future. Meanwhile, with no school available, and children in some families being split because of the CBE’s lottery system, parents are driving or bussing kids more than 30 minutes to Rundle, Marlborough or Monterey Park.

The FF&E initiative will remain in place until the 2026-27 school year when it is anticipated that enrollment growth levels will return to more manageable rates.