Hundreds of K-12 students in Surrey will be learning in portables for the 2017-2018 school season and the foreseeable future.
Surrey has the largest school district in BC. Classrooms have been growing as a result of Surrey’s rapidly growing population and demographics of young families.
With the recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling in favour of teachers regarding class size and composition, the Surrey School District has funding for 315 teaching positions. And yet Surrey schools are to receive 50 more portables to accommodate close to 1,000 new students. The district has more than 71,000 students. This would be a growth of 275 portables to 325 portables until new school construction is in place.
“The Surrey Schools Coalition looks forward to a review of BC’s funding formula with the promised comprehensive consultative process – a review hasn’t been done since 1988,” said Anita Huberman, CEO, Surrey Board of Trade.
“We were encouraged that the previous government pledged $217 million towards new schools in Surrey’s high growth areas, but we must now ensure that this funding represents the floor from which new announcements need to be built upon.”
“The Surrey Board of Trade and the Surrey Schools Coalition are waiting for a meeting date with the Surrey NDP MLA’s to hear their plan to address education issues and how they will eliminate portable learning in Surrey. We are ready and excited to meet.”
The Surrey Schools Coalition is a unique collaboration between parents, business, developers, homebuilders (Surrey District Parents Advisory Council, Surrey Board of Trade, UDI, GVHBA).
The ongoing ASK by the Surrey School Coalition:
A new funding formula needs to address growth, not just in Surrey, but in all districts in BC. To keep pace with the expected growth in Surrey, there is a need for approximately:
One new elementary school every year and one new secondary school every 2-3 years for the foreseeable future.
“Student growth is expected be 1,000 new students per year, and simply put, we need collaboration between the Province, the District and the City.”
The Surrey Schools Coalition’s premise is that the construction of new schools in high growth areas benefit students in Surrey, contributes to healthy communities, and enables economic growth through development.
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