124 Calgary schools past design life; maintenance funding cut by $8M
Aging buildings facing more frequent failures as school board loses federal funding. 60% of CBE schools exceed 50-year lifespan.
The day's top stories, food & events — every morning at 7. Unsubscribe anytime.
The Calgary Board of Education is facing a significant infrastructure crisis as 60 percent of its schools have outlived their planned 50-year service life — a problem that will worsen with a roughly $8-million maintenance funding reduction for the upcoming school year.
According to a report presented to trustees on Tuesday, 124 schools were built more than 50 years ago and haven't had a major upgrade. Over the next decade, that number is expected to grow by 26. Meanwhile, 42 schools are over 70 years old and haven't been modernized.
The funding cut stems from changes in provincial funding, including the discontinuation of the Infrastructure Maintenance and Renewal grant. The CBE will have roughly $8 million less for maintenance next year — a 20-percent reduction from the current school year.
Dany Breton, superintendent of facilities and environmental services, warned the reduction could lead to more frequent building system failures affecting school operations. "Every once in a while, we're going to get it wrong. And there's going to be a system we know is beyond its life cycle that will fail," Breton said, pointing to boilers that might fail during cold spells, disrupting classroom heating.
CBE chair Laura Hack acknowledged the competing pressures: building new schools in developing communities while maintaining aging infrastructure. "This has been a concern for the board," she said.
in a statement, Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides suggested the CBE use its reserves to fund infrastructure projects, noting that the remaining $50 million from the discontinued grant would be added to the Operations and Maintenance grant to provide "greater flexibility" in how schools use funds.