Committee Struck To Study School Maintenance

The Department of Education has struck a committee with regional school boards that will look at ways to improve the management of school maintenance across the province. The committee will hold its first meeting this week and includes senior school board officials and Department of Education staff.

Education Minister Angus MacIsaac said the committee will respond to recommendations of the Auditor General's report on property services. The minister acknowledged that there are areas for improvement and stressed that progress is being made.

"The committee we've established with the school boards will help us to work together to build on steps already taken to improve school maintenance," said Mr. MacIsaac. "We take the responsibility of providing and maintaining safe and healthy schools very seriously."

More than $82 million was directed at renovating, repairing or building schools in Nova Scotia in 2001-02. The department manages 1.7 million square metres (19.1 million square feet) of school space and the replacement cost of all schools is $1.7 billion.

Mr. MacIsaac said the department had already made improvements in its procedures since the Auditor General began the review of property services.

"We have an approach to address the fact that more than 60 per cent of our schools are over 35 years old," said Mr. MacIsaac. "The idea is to do the proper renovations at the right time to prevent costly deterioration and give our schools a longer life."

The department introduced a multi-phased approach to allocation of renovation and repair funding in 2001. Available funding is spread among more schools than in the past, when school maintenance needs were addressed one at a time. The multi-phased approach allows the province to handle urgent situations at several schools simultaneously and to reduce costs through bulk tendering.

"There are many schools that need repair and we're addressing them on a priority basis," said Mr. MacIsaac. "The reality is that there are 466 schools in Nova Scotia and there'll always be a need for improvements."

"Schools in the province are in good shape, generally, and we will continue to work closely with school board and their operating staff on maintenance issues where they exist," said Mr. MacIsaac.