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.

At the Committee of the Whole meeting on Thursday, March 28, 2024, council members were presented with a Request for Clarity regarding the Electoral Boundary Bylaw.

On the Request for Clarity it states that “the main basis of the divisional boundary adjustment is to equally disburse the population among county councillors.” Making sure that Wheatland County’s ever growing population is guaranteed fair representation for all its residents.

At the previous Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, February 13, 2024, council members were presented with four possible options for the proposed electoral boundary adjustments for review. Each option shows new boundaries for the political divisions mapped out.

It has been 23 years, since 2001, since the last major change to the divisional boundaries took place. With the new election in 2025, the Bylaw needs to be put in place by Tuesday, December 31, 2024, as per section 151 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), which states a Bylaw under sections 143, 148 and 150, must be passed by December 31 of the year before the next general election. Section 148 of the MGA discusses the divisions of wards, which any adjustments to would not take effect until the next election is held.

“Upon reviewing the Bylaw and taking a look at the resident count, and the number of residents per division, we realize that due to growth on the west side of the county that there has been a bit of a shift per division,” states Wheatland County’s CAO Brian Henderson. “The proposed adjustment wouldn’t be so contentious because it would remain seven to seven (amount of divisions) so there would be no shrinking of divisions.”

First reading of the Electoral Boundary Bylaw will have to happen and then council will host an open-house for public engagement.