Sa-Hali Secondary (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

SD73 Capital Plan

Kamloops-Thompson School District looking toward pre-fab additions to help ease capacity stress

Feb 25, 2026 | 5:05 PM

KAMLOOPS — School District 73 has a long list of needed capital projects which begins with a Batchelor Heights elementary school, includes a new secondary school in Aberdeen, along with a host of replacement schools for aging infrastructure throughout the district. The most recent provincial budget had no new dollars allocated for the Kamloops-Thompson School District, but did confirm Snine Elementary is still on track to open this September and remains on budget. 

School District 73 officials know they need new schools, both at the elementary and secondary levels throughout Kamloops, but with the provincial government showing few signs of near-term investment, it’s time to get creative.

“How we do look at, reasonably, what we are asking for? How do we evaluate what our needs are and also realizing… the province, the budget was going to be difficult,” said board chair Heather Grieve. 

As new builds become harder to get, the district’s long-range facility plan includes two pre-fab additions – one for Pacific Way Elementary and one for Sa-Hali Secondary.

SOUND OFF

SOUND OFF: Saving people time at ICBC

8h ago

Question of the Week

Has the violence in Mexico changed your opinion about travelling there for a vacation?

Feb 23, 2026

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: February 23, 2026

Feb 23, 2026

“It’s a very long process and we have sort of that growth pocket in the southeast sector who has more immediate needs, so we looked at adding modular expansion to our long-range plan in terms of what we are asking for,” added Grieve. 

Outside of new school builds, the district is awaiting news in early March about overall budget impacts.

“That is when we will get all of the details and we will understand what the impacts are at the district level. Right now, it’s at the ministry working through and then allocated out to each of the districts,” said Secretary-Treasurer Harold Cull. “We will get the per-pupil funding at that point in time. If there are any major changes or expectations, that will be communicated out in the middle of March.”

A new elementary school in Batchelor Heights is actually no longer on the district’s plan, but that is because it has progressed the project to final approval, now only needing an announcement from the province.

“It’s difficult to know whether you should be disappointed or continue to sort of stay the course and hope we don’t see any larger impacts. I think it’s balancing all that while still being able to articulate our needs very clearly. Batchelor, first and foremost, we are waiting for a response,” said Grieve. 

For many years, the Kamloops-Thompson School District was growing at the rate of a mid-sized elementary school per year. Enrollment has now slowed, making advocating for schools harder as the district prepares for a surge of students entering the secondary ranks.

“I don’t think it’s turning it on its head. I think the needs are still the needs – we still need another elementary school in Juniper Ridge. We are still going to need a school in Sun Peaks. We still have things that are on our plan,” said Grieve. “We still have significant replacement school lists. None of those are going to change but I think we may need to look at where our priority points of advocacy are, based off what we are seeing.”