A March Update from the Calgary Catholic School District, Board of Trustees

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CCSD

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Three-Year Capital Plan

The Board of Trustees of the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) believes that our students deserve the very best learning opportunities. An integral part of an optimal learning experience is providing safe and vibrant spaces for our students. Calgary Catholic is unique in Alberta in that not only do we serve the metropolitan areas of Calgary, but we also serve the urban areas of Airdrie, Chestermere, and Cochrane, the regional areas of Rocky View County (including Crossfield, Irricana, Langdon, Redwood Meadows, and Bragg Creek), and areas in the Municipal District of Bighorn. Due to this unique profile, capital planning for CCSD is a complex process.

Each year, school districts across Alberta, including CCSD, submit to Alberta Education their Three-Year Capital Plan. This document outlines the most critical infrastructure priorities. The creation and approval of our Three-Year Capital Plan is the result of a thorough assessment of several factors, beginning with an assessment of population growth patterns within CCSD. Despite the current challenging fiscal climate in Alberta, families are still moving to Alberta. Monitoring growth trends in population, alongside development within CCSD’s local communities, helps inform our Support Services department, which is responsible for creating the draft Capital Plan.

Determination of our infrastructure priorities is informed not only by growth trends as they might apply to new schools, but consideration is also given to the need to enhance existing learning spaces. By upgrading facilities in established communities, we are able to continue to provide safe and modern learning spaces for our students. As a result of this dynamic, CCSD’s Three-Year Capital Plan includes not only new schools, but modernizations of existing ones as well.

Finalizing the Three-Year Capital Plan also involves the consideration of government resources and the vision of our stakeholders. Provincial funding for infrastructure is finite and we recognize that the province must consider the most urgent needs of all jurisdictions. Calgary Catholic is the largest Catholic school district in Alberta and has a current utilization rate of 87.1 percent. As such, approving and submitting a capital plan designed to provide high quality learning spaces to the communities we serve, is a priority for the Board of Trustees.