Dilapidated Richmond High marked for replacement

Funding for a new Richmond High was announced Monday, much to the surprise of school board chair Sandra Bourque.

But the $16.5 million promised by the Ministry of Education is substantially less than the $20-million-plus price tag that came with each of Richmond’s newest secondary schools: McMath secondary and Cambie secondary.

And that’s a concern, Bourque said.

The school district is “somewhat concerned” that the funding is not adequate. But generally “we are pleased and surprised,” Bourque said Tuesday afternoon of the announcement.

If there’s not enough money, the school district may have to look at other means of raising money to make up for the shortfall. That could include, Bourque said, selling off school district property. One other option may be to approach the provincial government and use a high school design they have already used at another location in B.C. That could save the district hundreds of thousands of dollars in architectural costs.

Richmond secondary has long been a concern to members of Richmond school board because of its poor condition. A new school means the end of classroom portables is in sight.

In hopes of obtaining funding for a replacement, the school district obtained $50,000 to assess the viability of a public-private partnership, commonly referred to as a 3P option. The idea was to strike a deal with a developer and in exchange for allowing another type of development—perhaps residential housing—the district would be able to generate the necessary funding for a school.

Bourque said she doesn’t know why the provincial government decided against a public-private partnership, but said that the decision was good news for the district.

Bourque speculated that the reason for the reduced funding could be that the space allotment requirement per student capita may have been reduced and as a result the new school may be smaller and so would cost less. The quality of flooring and walls may also have been downgraded.

Although there is currently no timeline, it could take up to four years for the school to become a reality. It generally takes between 18 months and two years to build a school. Even if a previous set of plans is used, it could still take another couple of years for the plans to be customized.

In addition to the $16.5 million for Richmond secondary, the education ministry also announced $4.2 million for additions to Ferris, McKay and Homma elementary schools.