B.C.’s Finance Minister says the province is still playing catch-up when it comes to funding to build new schools.

Speaking on the NL Morning News, Carole James says work at Valleyview Secondary will be going ahead this year.

She was asked about other schools, like a replacement for Parkcrest Elementary, which burned down last September.

“I know the school board in Kamloops is on top of this and has been making sure that they include the challenges and raise those with the Ministry of Education.
she said.

“At this point, as I said, Valleyview is the top priority. We’re getting on with that, but we’re looking at how we provide support in other areas.”

SD73 Trustee John O’Fee told NL News that over the last two years, Kamloops has grown the equivalent of two elementary schools. He says it would have been nice to see some investment in new schools in the latest budget.

“We’re starting to see increasing enrolment after having dropping enrolment for a number of years other than a few school districts,” James added. “This is a real shift and we made sure this budget includes support for the growing number of students and providing support for special education as well.”

SD73 staff are waiting to hear back from the province before designs and a cost to replacing Parkcrest can be put together.

NL News was previously told that a replacement school would cost up to $38-million.