School’s out for the year! Should Halifax get an “L” in school infrastructure in 2023?

Don’t shoot the messenger, but school’s back in session Tuesday. Before we say goodbye to 2023, let’s gaze back longingly into the halls of learning and growing that got us through another year, bidding farewell to schools that closed and welcoming in ones that opened. So, how did 2023 balance out?

According to the Department of Early Education and Childhood Development—EECD–West Bedford School and West Bedford High School were the only schools that opened in Halifax Regional Municipality in 2023. These two schools that share a site were meant to open in 2022. What’s more, the new high school was meant to relieve overcrowding at another school 2km away. Since September, upper year students from the overcrowded Charles P. Allen High School have been bussing to West Bedford High for some of their classes, in what the Halifax Regional Centre for Education—HRCE—calls a dual-campus model of self-directed learning. Yet West Bedford is operating under capacity for its first year, while CPA continues to burst at the seams. 

How did child care spaces do in 2023? Are we on track to what’s been promised? A spokesperson for the EECD says yes, overall we are. However the math tells a different story.

On July 13, 2021, Nova Scotia signed a five-year funding package with Ottawa called the Canada-Nova Scotia Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.

A “commitment to Nova Scotians” in the agreement reads: “By 2025, Nova Scotian families will have access to affordable and high-quality care options for their children. Nova Scotia will increase spaces for children from birth to age 5 by over 9,500, meeting the target as identified by the Government of Canada.” Specifically, the agreement lists March 31, 2025 as the target’s deadline.

According to the province, from July 13, 2021 to Sept. 30, 2023, a total of 3,357 new spaces have opened. During that time 989 spaces have closed. That would mean an increase of 2,368. At that rate, there’s no way the province is meeting their goal by 2025. In fact, at that rate they wouldn’t each reach 50% of their target.

However, the province got an extension on the assignment.

Their revised deadline is March 31, 2026. A year longer. But, is that long enough with the previous rate of openings? The province would have to increase their rate by 61% in order to hit their target. That’s the difference between an “F” and an “A” in the classroom.

Not impossible. But they’ll need some after-school tutoring and extra-credit work.

And finally, what the heck is happening with French-speaking high school students on the peninsula? Well, 75% of them are sick of waiting for a school where they live and are headed to Citadel High School’s French immersion program. The rest are jumping on a bus to Burnside.

So, for 2023 Halifax gets an “L” in school infrastructure for being late on three counts. But 2024 is a new year.

This article appears in Dec 4-31, 2023.