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By James Peters

School Construction

Reports of B.C. school capital funding freeze ‘problematic and concerning’: Milobar

Jun 7, 2022 | 2:45 PM

KAMLOOPS — With reports of a freeze in capital funding for new school projects in B.C., the opposition MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson says the government’s decision to push ahead with the expensive rebuild of the Royal B.C. Museum is looking even worse.

In recent weeks, school districts in Vancouver, Mission and Sooke have all received denials for their new capital project requests. The education ministry told the Daily Hive that seven school capital projects have been deferred due to the “financial impacts of the pandemic and recent flooding events.”

Peter Milobar, the finance critic for the B.C. Liberals, says that amounts to a funding freeze.

“Problematic and concerning, when you consider that at the same time, with zero pre-discussion, the premier has decided to build his billion-dollar museum project that no one saw coming and no one was asking for,” he said.

Over the past two years, Kamloops-Thompson School District has received statements of support for proposed school builds in Pineview Valley and Batchelor Heights, but funding announcements and budget allocations have yet to follow. This year, the district’s capital wish list includes five new schools and eight school replacements.

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Milobar notes the explanation provided by the education ministry doesn’t hold water.

“We have fires and floods of varying degrees every year. There are costs associated with that. Certainly, in my estimates, the finance minister made it clear that there’s money — $2.8 billion in contingency funds — for a lot of fire and flood mitigation and recovery work to be done this year and then heading into future years,” he said.

“It really does seem like a government that has run out of money,” he continued. “They’ve decided to announce the billion-dollar museum project and it is, as we expected, coming at the expense of cancelling and delaying projects — especially critical school projects — across this province.”

CFJC Today has reached out to the Kamloops-Thompson School District for comment on the reports of a capital funding freeze.