The Kamloops Thompson School Board has narrowed down how it will cover its portion of the cost for the big expansion of Valleyview Secondary announced last month.

School Board Chair Kathleen Karpuk says the board is on the hook for $1.75 million of the total $34.5 million project.

As for how they will cover their share?

“We have some reserves that we put aside. We put aside some money a couple of years ago when we knew that the employers health tax was going to be coming in. We weren’t sure how that was going to be funded whether or not the provincial government was going to be covering that or whether school districts were going to do that. So we put some money aside in some reserve funds as it is the provincial government is going to cover that. We can now use that money as part of funding our share of Valleyview.”

Karpuk says they may also dip into the district’s surplus funds.

“Plus we will be trying to take a little bit out of surplus over the next three years and putting that aside. We don’t have to actually contribute the money until the end of the project so we have got a couple of years to save up.”

As for the Valleyview expansion Karpuk is teasing some news to come.

“We have actually been interviewing firms this past week and we are hoping that later this week, hopefully by the end of the week, we will have an announcement about who our architect is.”

Last month Education Minister Rob Fleming announced the $34.5 million dollar expansion to Valleyview adding 20 new classrooms, adding 525 seats, a new gym, sports field, and improved pick up and drop off area.

The expanded school is slated to open in September of 2022.