Kootenay Lake receives additional $2.4 million in capital funding
By Nelson Daily Staff
While there’s only a bit of new money to begin the process of moving students into different schools, the Kootenay Lake School District said it pleased to receive an additional $2.4 million in capital funding from the provincial government for 2019-2020.
In a recent media release, Kootenay Lake District said the Ministry of Education released capital budget amounts for districtsthroughout the province eligible to receive funding from programs for facility support and for bus upgrades.
“We were encouraged to see an increase in government funding this year,” says Board Chair Lenora Trenaman. “Our district will directly benefit from these Ministry programs and receive an additional $2.4 million.”
The District said Kootenay Lake will benefit from two specific programs aimed at improving safety and efficiency and making schools more comfortable for our students.
She said for the 2019-2020 school year, funding provided under the School Enhancement Program will help ensure facilities and building systems are well-maintained in the district through a wide range of improvement projects, including:
- • A dust collector upgrade at L.V. Rogers Secondary
- • Flooring upgrades at various schools
- • Window and door upgrades at Hume Elementary
The District said for this year’s Bus Acquisition Program, $13 million is being spent to equip districts province-wide with 81 new school buses. School District No. 8 will receive seven of these new buses directly from this funding program.
Overall, the Ministry of Education is allocating $20.6 million more compared with last year’s funding for programs focused on maintenance upgrades, facilities and bus acquisition.
School District No.8 may also soon benefit from an additional Ministry funding envelope that supports Expansion projects throughout the province. Government consent was granted for theBoard to study and develop plans for an expansion of Blewett Elementary School.
“We are thrilled with this news to begin the planning stages for Blewett, however cautious that final approval to build is not expected until spring of 2020,” explains Superintendent Dr. Christine Perkins.
