Quote:
Originally Posted by WarrenC12
"Unnecessary" is a matter of money.
What I'm saying is the Province forces the VSB to do this before they'll think of funding the OV school. They make the VSB the bad guy in front of the parents.
These 70 parents now need to take their kids further, much like the 70 or so parents that don't get into a catchment school.
We aren't short one school, we're short several. Crosstown, immediately full. Coal Harbour will be immediately full when it opens. Henry Hudson will be full when Senakw starts occupancy if not further. Olympic Village will be immediately full.
The Province is dragging their feet on about half a dozen schools in Vancouver alone because the VSB isn't closing one school with 70 kids?
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It's not one school - it's just an example.
In 2021 Vancouver schools had room for 57,989 students. "While the overall population of Vancouver has increased, Vancouver schools have experienced a decline in enrolment since 1997. In 2011 kindergarten to Grade 12 enrolment was 51,758 students and in 2021 the enrolment was 47,386." Enrolment was slightly up in 2022 over 2021, and again in 2023.
The quote is from a
VSB report on enrolement, and here's the data on west side schools.
Birth rates are still falling, and while population growth from the Broadway Plan, Senakw etc will add people, they may not add a lot of children, (especially as Senakw doesn't have to match City guidelines on family housing, so has a higher proportion of studio and 1-bed units).
Until VSB sorts out how to reduce some of those under utilized spaces to something lower, it's unlikely that a provincial government will put much more money into new Vancouver schools after OV and the extra classrooms in the rebuilt Henry Hudson. The priority should probably be to finish the seismic program - over 25% of school spaces in the city are still at risk of collapse in a moderate earthquake.