The Ministry of Education is restoring the provincial $110-million Annual Facilities Grant (AFG) it cancelled in 2009 and the move couldn’t have come too soon for School District 70, secretary treasurer Jerry Linning said.
B.C. education minister George Abbot made the announcement on Wednesday morning.
“I am happy to announce today that we are restoring the annual facilities grants so school districts can plan for summer maintenance and repair work,” Abbot said in a news release.
The news came as a surprise to Linning.
“That’s great news to our district, it will really help us along,” he said.
The ministry cut the AFG in 2009, which cleaved $893,000 from the district's budget.
The move left SD70 scrambling to make up their shortfall, and even prompted school closure discussion.
But the ministry restored 50 per cent of the AFG last year.
Restoring the other half now means approximately a half a million dollars will be added to this district’s coffers.
A slew of projects in the district are waiting to be seen to.
“The heating systems at Gill School, Eight Avenue Elementary and EJ Dunn are all in the hopper and can be moved ahead now,” Linning said.
The grant is used to underwrite major infrastructure projects such as heating, boiler, roofing and environmental initiatives.
reporter@albernivalleynews.com
Edited for spelling.