The Calgary Catholic School District says it is “cautiously optimistic” about the province’s new School Construction Accelerator Program because the process usually takes several years to complete.

Shannon Cook, chair of the CCSD’s board of trustees, told LiveWire Calgary she was excited to hear about Alberta’s new $8.6 billion commitment to build and modernize schools across the province.

However, she raised concerns about the timelines outlined in the announcement, specifically the promise to build 30 new schools per year over the next three years. According to Cook, it takes two to three years to design and prepare a site for construction followed by another two years to build the school.

“We certainly have demand for new schools. We estimate that we need 20 new schools in the next 10 years to meet what we’re projecting enrolment to be,” she said in an interview Friday.

“We’re optimistic and excited to hear about [the announcement], but cautiously optimistic that these timelines are going to work. Sometimes the devil’s in the details, so we’ll see how that goes.”

This comes after the CCSD published its 2025-2028 Three-Year Capital Plan in April this year, which outlines the district’s construction and modernization priorities for the next three years.

According to the document, the district plans to build six new schools and modernize two existing schools in Year 1. This will cost more than $269.6 million to build.

In Year 2, the district plans to build five new schools and modernize four existing schools, which will cost more than $311.7 million.

The CCSD also plans to build five new schools and modernize two existing schools in Year 3, totalling around $222.4 million.

In total, this means the CCSD will see:

• Eleven new elementary and junior high schools
• Four new high schools
• One addition to an existing high school
• Seven major modernization requests
• One modernization and replacement school request in downtown Calgary

Cook said all the projects slated for construction in Year 1 are currently being discussed with the Alberta government. Two of the new schools have already received design funding in March of this year, she added.

“Sometimes there needs to be a balance of both [new constructions and modernization]. We definitely need the new schools for enrolment, and the schools that need modernizations are facing enrolment pressures as well,” the board of trustees chair said.

“Our focus right now is more on new builds, but we would love to see the modernization projects go forward … We certainly push the projects forward but we’re probably not optimistic about receiving funding for those modernizations, especially since they’re lower on our priority list.”

Lack of sustainable operational funding ‘concerning’

Cook raised concerns about the lack of long-term sustainable funding for public schools, a concern that the CCSD has raised before.

Long-term operational funding means money for textbooks in the classrooms and classroom resources like furniture and teaching supplies for the CCSD, Cook said. It also means money for transportation, teacher’s salaries and hiring additional staff members for the new spaces that will be built.

For example, the cost of internet in schools has gone up by around 55 per cent since 2018, Cook said.

However, Cook said she’s curious about the changes to the weighted moving average model which will not be announced until Budget 2025. Premier Danielle Smith said the province is reconsidering the weighted moving average funding model – which hasn’t changed since 2018 – because it is not working for rapidly growing school districts like the CCSD or the Calgary Board of Education.

“We’re having a real problem and the pie hasn’t changed, but our costs are changing. So that’s a real problem for us,” Cook told LWC.

Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teacher’s Association (ATA), said schools need resources and additional funding right now. Many teachers across the province are dealing with large class sizes and a lack of resources and support for their students, and these problems require immediate solutions.

The ATA has been telling the government to address class sizes and complex needs in classrooms for years. But the ATA was not consulted before the School Construction Accelerator Program was announced and only time will tell if the Alberta government will hold onto its promises, Schilling said.

“The government said we’re building more schools, and my colleagues are saying that doesn’t help them now. It doesn’t help our students now,” he told LWC in an interview on Thursday.

“I thought it was really telling how the government was willing to invest money into buildings down the road, but not willing to invest money into people right now.”

Schilling also said around 8,000 teachers are needed to fill these new spaces and 5,000 teachers are needed right now to meet Alberta Commission on Learning guidelines that were published in 2003.

“We also need people to work in those buildings, and there’s no plan for that. We also need to address the issues that we’re seeing right now, and what you’re seeing from my colleagues is a frustration on their part, that the government is not listening to the concerns that they have right now, that they’re unwilling to put money into the system to address their needs,” Schilling said.

“We are the least funded education jurisdiction in all of Canada, and have been for years.”

He also raised concerns about private schools receiving money to construct new student spaces. In Alberta, 70 per cent of private school operations are funded by the province.

“Public dollars should go to public schools, and by supporting charter schools and public schools, in this regard, we’re taking money from students who attend public schools,” Schilling said.

“Private schools and charter schools can pick and choose who goes there. If you’re going to build a private facility with public dollars, then that facility and that school should be open to everybody.”