The Rocky View Schools (RVS) Board of Trustees submitted the 2024-2027 capital plan priorities to Alberta Education on March 23.
The capital plan is an annual report that reviews priorities within the school jurisdiction, Greg Luterbach, Superintendent of Schools explained.
RVS is facing school capacity challenges, by growing 750 to 1,000 students every year.
“The reality is we need a new school to open every year to accommodate those students. That’s been our challenge, we haven’t had new school approvals,” Luterbach said. “Looking into the future, we need all of these, but the reality we face is there are only so many dollars the provincial government allocates towards new schools, the design for new schools, the planning for new schools, and the pre-planning for new schools.”
RVS requested approval for school pre-planning, planning, and design, and construction funding.
“We haven’t got full funding for the schools, and we know the cost to build new schools is between 35 million for a Kindergarten to Grade 9, and closer to 85 million for a high school,” Colette Winter, Director of Operations at Rocky View Schools said.
New developments in Chestermere are expected to bring more students to the RVS system.
RVS requested approval for pre-planning for a Kindergarten to Grade 9 school, with 900 student capacity, with a 2024 construction request.
“The areas of growth in Chestermere are primarily on the west side of the city,” the RVS capital plan report said. “The nearby RVS schools are full, so students residing in the growth areas are bused to East Lake School, which is expected to be 97 per cent utilized in September.”
In September, there were 150 students attending RVS schools from developing communities in Chestermere, and an additional 100 students are expected in the upcoming school year.
RVS is facing accommodation challenges in Chestermere, such as a surge of new students, and student spaces declining with the closure of the Prince of Peace facility.
“A new Kindergarten to Grade 9 school in Chestermere is needed immediately,” Winter said.
For the 2025 budget year, RVS requested a Chestermere High School with a 1,500-student capacity be approved for new construction, with site readiness being completed this year.
For the 2026 budget year, RVS requested a Kindergarten to Grade 8 school in Chestermere, with a student capacity of 900 be approved for new construction, with site readiness to be determined.
RVS also requested a Kindergarten to Grade 8 school in Langdon with a capacity of 600 be approved for new construction, with site readiness to be determined.
“We increase throughout the year, and we’re expecting about 1,000 students coming into RVS each and every year. By 2033, we’re expecting to have almost 40,000 students within our system, which is somewhat shocking, but it’s where the trajectory is going, and we’re expecting it to continue,” Winter said.
Through the capital plan, RVS is asking for support from the provincial government to address the increase in enrolment the school division experiences every year.
“1,000 students every year is at least one school, if not two schools each and every year that needs to be built within our system,” Winter said. “Schools take at least three years to build, we need to be planning right now. We need new schools to open.”
Winter noted that RVS has been operating above the optimal utilization rate of 85 per cent within schools since 2018 and will hit a 100 per cent to 101 per cent utilization rate by 2026.
“Schools that are at 85 per cent utilized is a full school. There’s a bit of elbow room to use the learning commons, the gym and the CTS space, kids aren’t elbow to elbow,” Winter said. “In a 100 per cent utilized school, there’s not much space for students at that school, it means adding classrooms to learning commons, it’s a full school.”
To address high utilization rates, RVS requested an additional 32 new modular units. Currently, RVS has 391 modular units, with approximately 9,775 students.
Although modular classrooms provide temporary space for schools, it’s not a feasible long-term solution, because they do not provide learning commons, science labs or specialty shop spaces that are needed.
“Modular classrooms are an important part of strategic facility planning in RVS, as one-third of RVS capacity is modular classrooms,” Winter said.
Currently, Chestermere High School is using four modular units, Chestermere Lake Middle School has 11, East Lake has 16, Rainbow Creek has 14, Prairie Waters has eight, and Langdon has eight.
“Additional modular classrooms cause the facilities to be at beyond-buildout capacity, which puts strain on the core school facilities including CTF spaces, gyms and corridors,” Winter said.
