The Francophone South School District is welcoming major investments contained in the provincial capital budget, which was unveiled earlier this week.
The budget includes money for an addition at École Abbey-Landry in Memramcook and mid-life upgrades at Polyvalente Louis-J.-Robichaud in Shediac.
In addition, the province announced it will look at building new francophone schools in the Sussex-Hampton and the St. Stephen-St. George areas.
Michel Côté, chair of the Francophone South District Education Council, told our newsroom that these investments are long overdue.
“If we looked at the last six years, there was no new school project announced for our school district. And in those same six years, we grew 3,000 students,” Côté said in an interview.
“We’re in a situation that we just don’t have any more room for our students. Many of our schools have trailers to accommodate the extra students that those schools have.”
The district, which operates 37 schools in south-central New Brunswick, expects to need another 30 to 40 trailers over the next four to five years in order to keep up with the growth.
In the southwestern region of the province, where the two new schools are being considered, Côté said there are hundreds of francophone students who are going to anglophone schools because they have no other option.
Court battle
News of the additional investments comes weeks after the school district filed a lawsuit against the province over years of delays in school infrastructure investments.
Officials said there had been no new school announcements in the francophone district since the previous Higgs government came into power in 2018.
Côté said he believes the lawsuit was a big reason why there were investments for Francophone South in the latest capital budget.
“I think the government is also trying to have a better understanding of where the francophone schools are needed and try to evaluate differently to be able to accommodate that,” he noted.
However, just because there is funding in this capital budget does not mean the school district will end its lawsuit just yet.
Côté said they are seeking an agreement from the province to address 16 different projects across the district over the next decade.
That includes mid-life upgrades and additions at a number of schools and brand new schools in Grand Bay-Westfield, Riverview, Moncton, Miramichi and Fredericton.
The council chair said they have requested a meeting with the premier, education minister and finance minister “without lawyers” to discuss the district’s needs.
“I think they understand things that maybe previous government didn’t understand. I’m looking forward actually to have a chat with them and see what we can do together,” said Côté.
