BC government announces $57 million investment in Surrey school district

The BC government has announced a $57 million investment for three projects in the Surrey school district, Education Minister Rob Fleming said on Thursday.

This investment includes the construction of a brand new elementary school that is coming to the Sunnyside Heights area of Surrey and the expansion of Morgan Elementary and White Rock Elementary.

By 2023, nearly 8,700 new student seats will open in Surrey, “eliminating the equivalent of nearly 350 portables throughout the district,” said Fleming.

The announcement was applauded by Surrey Board of Education Vice Chair Terry Allen.

“We’re pleased that government has made getting students out of portables and back into classrooms a reality in our district,” said Allen. “This investment will help address the exponential growth our district has been experiencing in many of our South Surrey and White Rock neighbourhoods.”

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The new $44 million, 655-seat Sunnyside Heights-area elementary school will be built at 20th Avenue and 165A Street in South Surrey, with $5 million from the Surrey school district, and it is expected to be ready for students in Fall 2023. It will be built on land purchased in 2019 with $31 million from the Ministry of Education, adding much-needed classroom space to the fast-growing Grandview Heights neighbourhood.

Also adding more classroom space in the neighbourhood are a recently completed 300-seat addition at Pacific Heights Elementary, an addition at Edgewood Drive elementary, an addition at Sunnyside Elementary, a new Douglas-area elementary school, and a new Grandview Heights Secondary school.

Adding 190 seats to Morgan Elementary, a $10.4 million project, “means there will soon be no need for the five portables at the school,” said Fleming. Construction on this addition is expected to be underway in Fall 2021 for the new classrooms to be completed in December 2022.

The new addition at White Rock Elementary, a $7.6 million investment from the Ministry of Education, will add 195 seats to the K-7 school, increasing capacity to 655 students and reducing the need for portables. Construction is expected to begin on the addition in Spring 2021, and the new classrooms are slated to be ready for students in September 2022.