By paNOW Staff

Premier Wall hints at P3 funding model for some new schools

Oct 22, 2013 | 12:46 PM

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is expected to make a major funding announcement in Saskatoon should offer some relief to parents of kids who are crammed into over-crowded schools.

Full details have not been released at this point, but Premier Brad Wall joined John Gormley Live to preview the announcement saying it will address capital spending for schools in areas that are seeing major growth including Saskatoon and Regina.

Wall confirmed previous hints saying the government will look at following a public private partnership (P3) model used to build schools in Alberta. In that model a dozen schools have been built with similar floor plans all at the same time. The premier says that could mean more schools are built faster with less financial burden falling on taxpayers.

“We’re going to continue in this province to build schools in the conventional way where we pay for the planning and then pay for the building, especially in rural areas,” Wall explained. “But where it’s possible we’ve said 'shouldn’t we be bundling these schools?'”

He says Saskatchewan can learn from Alberta where they have used a P3 model for a number of years and saved money, but he adds that the province will refine that model.

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“When we build new schools, let's build joint schools – public and separate together sharing as much as they can,” he said, noting that this will also help reduce costs.

The opposition NDP agrees with the need for more schools, but says partnerships with the private sector have proven more costly where they have been used elsewhere.

The government has also faced some criticism from educators and school boards this year for changing how portable classrooms were ordered. The shift left a number of schools without adequate space.

Saskatoon has seen some schools overflowing with higher enrollment numbers exceeding capacity significantly. Regina schools are also growing in enrollment. The Regina Catholic School board estimated in September that those schools have added between 200 and 300 students every year since 2011.

With files from Gerald Bauman and Patrick Book

news@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow