Alberta quadruples school construction funding to $8.6B to address swelling population

globalnews.ca:

Alberta was calling, both Canadians and immigrants answered and now the government is working to address the consequence of an unprecedented number of people moving to the Prairie province over the past year.

In a televised address Tuesday night, Premier Danielle Smith said the Alberta government will be quadrupling the amount of capital money going towards K-12 school construction over the next three years via a new program called the School Construction Accelerator Program.

Alberta has seen record-breaking population growth: more than 200,000 people moved to the province last year and Smith said that’s like adding two new Red Deer-sized cities. Schools everywhere are inundated with new pupils.

“After several years of very modest student enrollment growth from around 2015 through the COVID years, Alberta’s student population is now surging in an unprecedented fashion,” Smith said.

“We estimate that it is increasing at about 33,000 students per year – that is equivalent to roughly 35 new schools each year.”

The province’s two largest divisions, Edmonton Public Schools and the Calgary Board of Education, have both said their schools are expected to have a utilization rate of well over 90 per cent this school year.

Some families are struggling to find schools that will accept their kids.

The addition of some $6.5 billion in capital funding would be a significant boost to what was budgeted in February.

Budget 2024 originally earmarked $1.9 billion in capital funding over the next three years for planning, design or construction of new and modernized school projects across the province.

In the summer, the government promised an added $215 million for school boards, including $90 million towards 100 more modular classrooms