The Saskatchewan Rivers School Division has approved three major capital infrastructure projects to be completed over the next three years.
The board approved the major and minor capital recommendations to be sent to the Ministry of Education at their meeting on Feb. 12. Decisions around these were made in a meeting of the facilities committee in early February.
The Major and Minor Capital report was presented by superintendent of facilities Mike Hurd.
The Ministry of Education Infrastructure Branch invites all school divisions to submit their top three major capital and top two minor capital funding requests by March 8.
“The minor capital pieces are what we need to try to keep up to date with older aging buildings, but the major capital project, we have not had one for many years now and so we are hoping that we might connect with even one of those as the years go on here,” director of education Neil Finch said.
The Ministry has changed the way capital submissions are dealt with. They broke the capital submissions into two categories with some being higher priority handled through capital allocation such as school replacement. Other necessary items did not rank high enough and the Ministry made the decision to split them off.
The top major capital priority is the construction of a new K to 12 school to replace W.P. Sandin High School and Shellbrook Elementary School. Second on the list is renovation and renewal for Carlton Comprehensive High School and third is construction of a new school to replace Ecole Arthur Pechey School.
Finch said the buildings are well-maintained by Hurd and his staff.
“They are aging for sure,” Finch said.
The top minor capital priority is the renovations and renewal of Christopher Lake Public School and in second place is renovation and renewal of Princess Margaret School.
All submissions are reviewed, prioritized and placed on both the Major and Minor lists. Decisions on awarding funding will be announced on Budget Day 2025.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
