School District 60 adopts Capital Bylaw for new school year

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — School District 60 (SD60) has passed and adopted the Capital Bylaw for the school year 2026-2027.

At the SD60 Board Meeting on April 20th, the board passed the Capital Bylaw and released the funding it received as part of its Capital Plan Submission. 

According to Angela Telford, secretary-treasurer for SD60, the district will receive $1.685 million towards approved projects and also a bus, which costs approximately $200,000. 

Telford said: “[The Capital Plan Submission] is to provide additional funding to districts for larger projects that we can’t cover.” 

The approved projects for the SD60 are: 

• Bert Ambrose Elementary (School Enhancement Program)  – heating, ventilation and air conditioning upgrades – $300,000. 
• Dr. Kearney Middle School – roofing upgrades – $500,000.
• Ecole Central Elementary – roofing upgrades – $285,000
• Bert Ambrose Elementary (Carbon Neutral Capital Program) – heating, ventilation and air conditioning upgrades – $400,000. 
• Clearview Elementary and Junior Secondary – universally accessible playground – $200,000. 

Telford stated she considers this funding “very important” for SD60.

“If we didn’t receive this funding, we wouldn’t be able to provide these upgrades, and then it would affect school operations,” she explained. “It’s important we get the funding through this channel, as opposed to having to carve it out of the operating [budget] which goes towards basic maintenance of buildings.” 

With the Capital Bylaw in effect, Telford said this is needed to “open up the funding availability to us…to be able to access the funds.” 

When asked if there is a difference between how much the district asked versus how much it received, she said: “I believe we actually did very well, I know we didn’t get as many buses as we wanted; we asked for five but got one.” 

“But the ministry did warn us that…they weren’t going to be as generous for the 2026-2027 year for allocating buses, so I was happy with the one that we got.” 

The Capital Plan Submission was made in September of last year for the 2026-2027 school year. 

She said that the district has to plan beforehand, as they have a “very small” construction window. 

“We learn about the allocation at the end of March. If you’re in Vancouver, you have the whole year to execute your plan,” she explained. “But we don’t…our window is very short compared to the rest of the province, so we have to move quickly.”