Golden Hills School Division has identified a replacement for Greentree School as one of its priorities.
At its March 26 board meeting, Golden Hills trustees discussed capital planning.
Per guidelines from Alberta Education and Alberta Infrastructure, there is a mandate that boards must submit their annual capital planning priorities by April 1.
According to the recommendations, “Capital planning considers the following needs: leases, modular classrooms, modernizations, new schools, and replacement (new) schools. Alberta Education evaluates all requests according to factors such as utilization rates, facility condition, and enrollment patterns in order to establish the Provincial priorities that are eligible for funding approval.”
The board approved the requests for the replacement of Westmount School in Strathmore, Greentree School in Drumheller and Dr. Elliott School in Linden.
It does note on March 1, as part of last year’s budget announcement, Westmount School was approved for funding for planning.
The board also discussed the 2024-2025 provincial budget, which was tabled on February 29.
For the education budget, which Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides provided an overview of, there are three areas for investment including enrollment, inflation/ affordability and the education mandate, which includes mental health, learning loss and school infrastructure.
Overall there was a 4.4 percent increase in total education funding. The reserve cap was also changed to six percent.
For Golden Hills this will allow the division to plan long term and provide timely resources for students.
“Once we receive the Funding Manual and our school divisions profile, we will have a better understanding, the specifics of the funding are essential for our budgeting strategies,” noted the presentation.
