Board approves 2027-28 five-year capital plan requesting $5.5B for student space needs

A slide from a staff presentation on the 2027-28 Five-Year Capital Plan shows adjusted enrolment projections in purple, illustrating slower but continued growth in Surrey and White Rock, and stressing the need for more capital funding to address current and future overcrowding issues in the district.

In the absence of new capital funding, the Surrey Board of Education approved a new five-year capital plan that is similar to the previous year, seeking $5.49 billion from the Ministry of Education and Child Care for 76 major capital projects to address longstanding overcrowding and ongoing growth in Surrey and White Rock schools.

Presented at the June 10 public board meeting, the plan includes funding requests for 29 new schools, 19 additions, 26 site acquisitions, one school replacement and one seismic upgrade, as well as 10 building envelope projects. Though K-12 enrolment slowed last fall, overall projections show continued growth anticipated over the next decade to 2035.

“While growth is not happening as fast, we are still expecting about 700 to 800 new students per year on average over the next 10 years,” said Doug Merry, Associate Director of Planning and Demographics.

Merry illustrated that secondary student populations are currently over capacity in all six of the district’s zones, with elementary populations currently or projected to be over capacity in Cloverdale/Clayton, Guildford and South Surrey/White Rock, based on timelines for approved capital projects over the next 10 years.

Overall projections show districtwide elementary enrolment to be at 97.4% capacity by 2035, though Merry explained some elementary schools are already dramatically above that figure on their own and rely on portables to provide additional space. Secondary enrolment is expected to reach 112.4% capacity by the same year, despite 150 classrooms to be built across additions to Clayton Heights, Fleetwood Park, Grandview Heights, Guildford Park, École Kwantlen Park and Tamanawis secondary schools.

Merry stressed that the land assembly and identification of land for purchase must be done now to secure space for future seats, particularly in South Surrey, Cloverdale/Clayton, City Centre and Fleetwood, where long-term projections show significant growth due to development and the SkyTrain expansion.

Trustee Bob Holmes noted that the district’s last two capital plan letters to the Ministry have been met with responses of no new capital. While additions to Clayton Heights Secondary and Grandview Heights Secondary were announced this school year, both projects were supported in the previous five-year capital plan, with funding provided in the 2024-25 school year.

“We’re sitting at $5.5 billion and not getting any better,” he said of this year’s capital funding request. “And right now, the last [provincial] budget projected $1.4 billion, $1.4 billion and then only $1 billion for the next three years for capital for the entire province for schools.”

Vice-Chair Garry Thind echoed Holmes’ concerns about the lack of new funding as Surrey’s capacity needs grow, emphasizing the importance of purchasing land before prices rise.

“As a realtor, I know this is the right time to buy land,” he said. “What kind of advocacy can we do to convince this government to invest now rather than wait until the price goes up again to $6 million an acre? Lots of people I know are begging to sell their land for schools. How can we help the Ministry understand that this is the right time?”

Capital Project Office Executive Director Dave Riley agreed that the current market is a good time to purchase land and said the district frequently receives offers from the public to sell their land. He said those offers are forwarded through the secretary-treasurer to the Minister but have not led to much response.

“If you compare this year’s capital request to last year’s, you’ll actually notice that the cost of real estate is less this year than it was last year, even though these sites we’re proposing to purchase are essentially the same,” said Riley. “Any advocacy the board would like to make would certainly be helpful.”

Thind appealed to CUPE 728, the Surrey Teachers’ Association and Surrey DPAC to continue their advocacy efforts alongside the board’s to lobby governments for much needed funding, expressing urgency to act now to create more student spaces in Surrey and White Rock.