After enrolment booms in 2022, 2023 and 2024, modest growth in 2025 will allow the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) to catch up to demand.
With 676 new students, or a 1.06 per cent annual growth rate, 2025 saw the lowest total of new CCSD students since 2021. The relaxation in growth is welcome, as Superintendent of Support Services MacDonald said the one per cent increase benefits the district and will allow some time to play catch-up.
CCSD planning documents account for between one and a two-and-a-half per cent average annual growth rate, so 2025’s numbers are not a worry.
“If you drew a line at two per cent over the last 30 years in Calgary, that line may vary, but in general, the trend over the last 30 years is about two per cent (annually),” MacDonald said during the Nov. 12 CCSD Board of Trustees meeting.
Growth across elementary grades was consistent with district projections, while growth of 286 students in Grades 10-12 was lower than projected.
Current 2025-26 utilization district-wide is some 92 per cent, seven per cent higher than the ideal 85 per cent utilization rate, MacDonald said.
Modernization, new schools and modular classrooms coming to CCSD
As part of the catch-up, MacDonald mentioned that the CCSD currently has 11 announced school constructions and modernizations, ranging from fully funded to planning funded. The oldest of which, St. Martin de Porres in Airdrie, was originally announced in September 2021.
Legacy, Nolan Hill, and Chelsea/Dawson Landing Schools are all set to open in 2026.
Based on utilization rates, trends in enrolment and considering program delivery and enrolment pressure concerns, the district submitted a list detailing the need for modular classrooms to Alberta Education on Oct. 31.
In their submitted report, effectively a wishlist according to CCSD officials, the district asked the government for 12 new modular classroom units, 14 inter-district classroom relocations and 15 renovated units, or evergreened.
Admittedly, the district is unsure how many of the 31 classroom projects will be completed.
“If the best were to happen, we would get all of these things, but likely we’ll only receive a small fraction of them,” MacDonald said.
“The reason why we make submissions in each one of these categories is because we never know what the provincial government’s funding will be. Some years they’re focused on providing new spaces, some years they’re focused on relocating spaces, and some years they’re focused on evergreening and replacing outdated classrooms, so we like to submit and make requests in all three categories, that way we can hopefully get a portion of each one.”
The district currently has around 1,000 modular classroom units.
Six district schools currently operationally small, seeing unsustainable enrolment
According to the Nov. 12 meeting agenda, as student enrolment at a school declines, there is a tipping point where the resources provided by normal formula-driven processes are insufficient to create consistency and additional resources above typical allocations are required.
Generally, for K-6 schools, this tipping point occurs at approximately 150 students, when a school is termed operationally small.
The CCSD currently has six K-6 schools operating below 150 students, St. Bernadette, St. Rita, St. Andrew, St. Boniface, St. William and St. Catherine Schools.
District administration is said to continue working with operationally small school communities to increase enrollment to sustainable levels.
St. Bernadette, St. Rita and St. Boniface Schools all saw enrolment increases from the 2024-25 to the 2025-26 school year.
Of the six operationally small schools, none are currently planned for closure.
