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Kamloops  

Crown grant for much needed Batchelor Heights elementary school finally nears completion

Batch school still in limbo

A long-delayed Crown grant that would pave the way for a much needed elementary school to be built on a plot of land in Batchelor Heights was in the “end stages” of the ministry’s process last month, but when it might be complete is anyone's guess.

The application for the grant, which is needed to officially transfer ownership of the land to School District 73, was previously approved to be expedited through the Ministry of Forests in 2023. SD73 was told the rearrangement of several ministries kept the application in limbo.

In 2023, the Kamloops-Thompson school district penned a letter to the Ministry of Education and Child Care, asking for its assistance in expediting the grant application.

In response, Nathan Cullen, then minister of water, land and resource stewardship, committed to granting the Crown grant by the spring of 2024, prompting SD73 to ask the ministry for funding support for the school.

The ministry said final funding approval for the project could be brought forward once the Crown grant was OK'd by cabinet, which occurred in June.

Despite Cullen’s commitment, the school district had to reiterate its ask for the grant to be expedited to new Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Randene Neill in November.

In a letter to SD73 board chair Heather Grieve last month, the ministry said the district’s Crown grant application was at the end stages of approval.

The ministry said the grant will be finalized once necessary forms are signed and processed, and associated fees are paid.

In November, SD73 told the ministry that despite sweeping catchment changes on the North Shore, a new school is desperately needed.

“We are now over 121 per cent capacity in the elementary school that was at the centre of the catchment change related to needing a new school in Batchelor Heights,” Grieve said.

“Until the Crown grant application is approved, we are not eligible for funding for a much needed new elementary school in Batchelor Heights.”

It takes approximately four years for a school to open once funding has been approved.

The board of education approved Station One Architects to be SD73's primary consultant for the new school last year, who has worked with the district on Valleyview secondary, Parkcrest elementary and Sníne elementary.



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