The Government of B.C. is providing $67.6 million to build a new, 430-seat elementary school on Sheffield Avenue in Burke Mountain for Coquitlam students.
“The new Sheffield Avenue elementary school and 390 additional spaces at three other Coquitlam schools are part of our government’s work to deliver better education for every student in B.C.,” said Premier John Horgan. “These new student seats will help provide the positive, engaging and inspiring environments children need to have the best learning experience possible.”
Funding will also go to expansions at the following schools:
- Dr. Charles Best Secondary, $8.4 million, 150 new seats
- Panorama Heights Elementary, $6.2 million, 90 new seats
- Westwood Elementary, $5.7 million, 150 new seats
The Coquitlam School District is providing an additional $5 million toward the cost of the new Burke Mountain school, which has a total budget of $52.3 million and is expected to be open in 2021. The Westwood Elementary expansion will be complete in 2020, while Panorama Heights’ and Dr. Charles Best Secondary’s expansions are expected to be complete in 2021.
“Enrolment has grown in Coquitlam since 2007, but only one new elementary school was built in the last decade,” said Rob Fleming, Minister of Education. “When students are in modern classrooms, not portables, they are more successfully engaged with their studies.”
Currently, nearly 110 portables are in use throughout Coquitlam, and just one new elementary school was built in over a decade. These projects will go a long way in giving students classroom space they need to make full use of the new curriculum so they can be better prepared for life in B.C.’s growing, sustainable economy.
In the past two years, government has made record investments in education, including $472 million for new student seats, which eliminate the equivalent of over 300 portables throughout British Columbia. Budget 2019 includes a record $2.7 billion for school capital investments to continue this momentum.
