WEYBURN – The Government of Saskatchewan is providing an additional $32 million in funding for 45 new relocatable classrooms to increase classroom space throughout the province. The majority of this new funding is allocated to Regina and Saskatoon, the two cities where the province is experiencing the fastest population growth, along with Weyburn and a few other communities.
The relocatable classroom is for Assiniboia Park Elementary School, which will be added on the west side of the gymnasium sometime in in the Fall of 2024, said Andy Dobson, manager of facilities and transportation for the SE Cornerstone School Division.
He noted that APES is at 103 per cent utilization rate, and said the classroom will likely be used for French Immersion classes.
Principal Dan Manning explained this is in preparation for the gradual expansion of the school’s French Immersion program.
“In addition to our K-6 English program at APES, we are adding one grade of French Immersion every year, so that in September 2024, we will have K-5 French Immersion, and in September 2025 we will have K-6 French Immersion,” he said. “Additional classroom space is welcome news for our growing school.”
This new funding is in addition to the $16 million investment for 23 relocatable classrooms and two classroom moves as announced in the 2023-24 budget.
"Our government is committed to working with our educational partners to help address the concerns around class size that we are seeing in some of our schools," Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said. "This additional funding will help school divisions better manage, at the local level, enrolment pressures in the fastest growing areas of the province."
With this additional investment, the total for classroom relocatables is $48 million for 68 new relocatables and two classroom moves for the 2024-25 school year.
