New Catholic high school, modernization in Calgary pushed ahead under provincial program

Two school projects in Calgary are closer to becoming a reality under a provincial program which aims to accelerate the construction of more spaces.

Minister of Education and Childcare, Demetrios Nicolaides, announced Tuesday 11 projects are being sped up to the next phase of construction. Of those, two projects are located in Calgary.

A new high school in west Calgary is moving on to the construction phase from the design phase, he said, while an addition and modernization of Bishop McNally High School is moving to the design stage from planning.

The Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) says these investments are much needed.

“We are grateful to see two of our high schools advancing in the School Construction Accelerator Program,” said board chair, Shannon Cook. “With our student population growing rapidly and our high schools already over capacity, these new builds and modernizations/additions are critical to ensuring our students have access to quality, Catholic education close to home.”

Other accelerated projects include modernizations in Coalhurst, Donnelly, and Falher, replacement schools in Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie County, Strathmore, Wetaskiwin, and Lac La Biche, and a new middle school in Red Deer.

The province says these 11 projects will create more than 8,000 new and updated student spaces.

“We are building more schools at a faster rate, never before seen in Alberta,” Nicolaides said. “Through this innovative approach to building more schools now, backed by our generational investment of $8.6 billion to build more than 100 schools across the province, we will ensure every student in Alberta has the space to engage in the province’s world-class education system.”

This announcement builds on a plan released by Alberta’s government last fall, saying it would invest more than $8 billion to build and renovate more than 100 schools. Since then, 33 projects have been approved to move to the next stage of the construction process.

There are currently 132 active school projects in communituies across the province.

Alberta uses a staged school project funding approach that includes pre-planning, planning, design, and construction approvals.

Investment into modular classrooms

Many schools across the province are running over capacity and don’t have room for all of the students registered in their programs.

To ensure they have places to learn while additional spaces are built, the province says it is putting significant money toward modular classrooms.

Nicolaides announced $50 million is earmarked to provide modular classrooms to 19 school boards.

The funding will build 50 new modular classrooms and relocate 19 others to create 1,650 new and relocated spaces for students.

Alberta had previously invested $90 million in building modular classrooms.

Crews are working to build the new units immediately, the first of which will be ready for pickup in July. Some units will be installed by school divisions before the school year begins.

Others will be installed early in the 2025-26 school year.