Source Staff
On Tuesday, Premier Brad Wall hinted at it, on Thursday the announcement became official.
The government issued a release this morning confirming a major school renovation and five new schools in Saskatchewan, including a replacement school for École St. Thomas Elementary School in Lloydminster.
"This is the largest number of new schools announced in a single day in Saskatchewan history," Wall said in a prepared release. "These new facilities will improve the lives of roughly 2,900 students and will represent a total investment of $95 million when they are completed."
Two new schools will also be built in Saskatoon in the Willowgrove neighbourhood, along with a consolidated St. Patrick Elementary School and St. Joseph Middle School for Swift Current, a middle school in Warman and a major renovation to École St. Andrew Elementary School in Regina.
All six projects today enter the approval-in-principle stage and receive a total of $6 million dollars in government support to complete the preparation of detailed plans and specifications, which must be completed before construction can begin.
An additional $5 million is also being advanced to support facility maintenance projects ranging from roof and boiler replacements to structural repairs in seven communities including Churchbridge, Melfort, Loon Lake, Imperial, Rosthern, Swift Current and Lucky Lake. Regina and Saskatoon Public School Divisions will also receive additional financial support to complete facility audits.
Over the past two years, the Government of Saskatchewan has committed more than $300 million to move forward 28 major school capital projects and close to 400 additional, smaller projects in schools across the province. This represents a record high investment in school infrastructure over a two period and coincides with the first increase in provincial student enrolment in 17 years.
In Lloydminster on Tuesday, Wall gave a strong indication of what the announcement would be.
“There is going to be a very positive announcement (Thursday), for Lloydminster. There’s a number of needs in terms of the educational system in Lloydminster – one school in particular – which is very busy and crowded, and our government is going to make a major announcement (Thursday). Lloydminster will be pleased with it because in the first time in 17 years, student enrollment is not declining, it’s going up and that means we need to be investing in our schools. Lloydminster is growing and they are going to get some good news – a new school would be good news.”