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P3 funding model for 9 joint schools in Saskatchewan

Oct 23, 2013 | 7:17 AM

Nine new joint-use elementary schools will be built in Saskatchewan to help deal with a surge in student enrollment.

Premier Brad Wall and Education Minister Don Morgan announced the school projects Tuesday at Dundonald School in Saskatoon.

The schools will be located in Saskatoon, Regina, Warman and Martensville which the province said have experienced unprecedented growth.

“We need to do a better job… of meeting the challenges of growth. When a place is growing there is more traffic more people demanding more services,” Wall said.

“In some places enrollment of students has climbed 70 per cent in just six years… We know when schools are overcrowded it's not as much fun for the students. The learning environment isn't optimized, its not as good as it could be or should be for teachers.

The government will construct these schools through a Public-Private Partnership (P3). Construction could take about four years, but Premier Brad Wall said the P3 model means the schools can be built faster.

“The simple fact is we need more schools here and in the surrounding area and in our capital city and we need them quickly. If we are to meet this challenge in a reasonable time frame, in a much tighter time frame, we will also have to be innovative,” Wall said.

“In our view we must embrace alternative approaches and that means public private partnerships. It means P3s… We are going to bundle these schools together… and we are going to move forward with all of them at once.”

It means homeowners in Saskatoon's Stonebridge, Hampton Village, Evergreen and Rosewood areas will finally have a school to send their kids.

The nine joint-use buildings will house 18 schools where Catholic and public school divisions split maintenance costs and explore options for sharing space.

“Right now what we are doing is putting students in boot rooms or putting students on the stage so they can have a class,” said Greater Saskatoon Catholic Board of Education Chair Diane Boyko.

She explained that how the joint venture will work is a conversation that they still need to have.

“We look forward to the conversation because that is what it's all about. Taking what could be, taking what is and seeing where we can go,” she said.

“We know we need space for the education of our kids and the extracurricular is also part of that education… we hopefully will be able to come to some good terms on how we deal with that in this new venture we are all experiencing.”

Saskatoon Public Schools Board Chair Ray Morrison said they will also have to discuss the P3 Model.

“We have lots of questions. I guess we will be asking those questions of government and how they respond and which P3 model they plan on using and what lessons we have learned from other jurisdictions,” he said.

Morrison explained that although they have many questions the new schools will make a needed impact on the crowded schools.

“We think that with these four schools that it will bring the population of schools in those neighbourhoods down to a more rational level. Maybe the schools will be back down to around 400 or 500 (students)” he said.

“We've seen a growth of about 1,400 students in the last two years which is equivalent to Walter Murray which is our largest high school.”

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.

The NDP likes what the government is doing but doesn't agree with the P3 funding model Brad Wall announced.

“We've been doing our homework,” said Trent Wotherspoon, education critic for the NDP, “we've come to the conclusion looking at the examples, looking at other jurisdictions that it's not a common-sensed approach. It's not in the best interest of Saskatchewan people.”

Wotherspoon told reporters Tuesday at the legislative building that P3s clearly cost more, compromise control and access of the community, and add lengthy negotiations to projects. He said the government is ignoring bundled projects in B.C., Alberta and Nova Scotia that he says wasted a lot of money.

“The fact is we have communities that needed schools a couple years ago, this government has been late coming to the table.”

Wotherspoon is calling on the Sask Party to scrap their plan but continue pursuing school builds using a traditional, public approach.

“I think Saskatchewan people believe in building in a common-sense plan, a publicly-funded plan, one that ensures access and the unique-needs of a community are met.”

With files from Canadian Press, News Talk Radio's Kelly Malone, Gerald Bauman, Courtney Mintenko, and Patrick Book.

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