New schools being planned for Edmonton as districts face 100 per cent utilization rate

The province said it's funding planning for 14 new schools for the Edmonton area, with eight to be located in the city.

The province is planning 14 new schools in the Edmonton area, as both public and Catholic districts approach 100 per cent utilization rates.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides announced the new projects on Wednesday.

“Edmonton is one of the fastest growing cities and communities in all of Canada, and the need for space is urgent,” he said. “I’m confident that these new school investments will help address the challenges of growing enrollment.”

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The Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) reports its utilization rate has risen from 75 per cent to 88 per cent over the past ten years.

It expects that to rise to 100 per cent in 2026-27, saying five new schools per year would be needed to maintain the ideal utilization rate of 88 per cent.

“We too are struggling with spaces,” said Edmonton Catholic School Division board chair Sandra Palazzo. “In the last three years alone, we’ve had an increase of 7,000 students, which is a 15.5-per-cent increase.”

Edmonton Catholic schools reports an average utilization rate of 98 per cent across all schools, with 40 per cent full or over capacity. Even with 33 modular classrooms and the opening of a new high school last year, Palazzo said the division is still short more than 1,000 high school spaces.

EPSB board chair Julie Kusiek said her division is seeing about 5,000 new students enter the system each year, with an anticipated enrollment of 125,000 next year. She said schools are “maxing out portables” wherever possible but that construction is the solution needed.

“We know that it takes three to five years to build a school,” she added. “We do know that we’re going to continue to get new student enrollment during that period of time, we’re going to continue to feel that in our schools.”

Construction

Infrastructure Minister Martin Long said three out of 36 Edmonton-area projects are expected to be built by the end of 2025:

• the K to 12 École Claudette-et-Denis-Tardif in Sherwood Park;
• the K to 9 St. Josephine Bakhita Catholic Elementary/Junior High School in Edmonton; and
• the Blessed Carlo Acutis Catholic High School in Edmonton.

Construction on all three of those schools began in 2023. They will offer a combined 2,640 student spaces upon opening, with 110 more spaces eventually opening at Blessed Carlo.

Long declined to answer questions about how many school projects were expected to be finished next year.

In 2023, construction funding was announced for two schools in Edmonton: a public new K to 9 in Edgemont and a solution for École Michaëlle-Jean and École Gabrielle-Roy.

According to the province’s website, the Edgemont school remains in the proposed-design phase. A contractor services document updated in December shows construction on the Francophone school is scheduled to finish in 2027.

Last year, the province budgeted construction funding for four Catholic and one public school in Edmonton. Three of the Catholic schools still have no timeline on construction, while one breaks ground this year and is expected to open in 2027.

The new public 7 to 12 in Glenridding Heights is tentatively scheduled to open in September 2028 with 2,400 spaces.

No new construction funding is included in Budget 2025. Nicolaides said the school accelerator program, announced in November, will allow any school projects approved for planning or design to move forward with construction when they are ready.

Kusiek said EPSB has been feeling the “crunch” and had a number of capital projects on the books “for quite some time.” She said she welcomes the accelerator program and the chance to see some movement on those projects.

“We’re eager to get to work on planning, design and – thanks to the school construction accelerator program – ultimately, construction for these five new schools,” she said.

“Announcements like the one today bring us closer to the day when there are enough student spaces for every single student to register in the program of their choice, close to home with their friends, and there is no more need for a lottery.”

Funding for the 14 new projects announced by the province in the Edmonton area are:

• design funding for two Edmonton public schools, an addition to Dr. Anne Anderson High School and a new K to 6 school in Hawk Ridge;
• planning funding for two new public high schools in Castle Downs and The Grange;
• planning funding for a new public K to 6 in Silver Berry;
• planning funding for two new Catholic high schools in Lewis Farms and The Meadows;
• planning funding for a new Francophone K to 6 in Haddow/Henderson;
• planning funding for two new high schools in Beaumont, one public and one Catholic;
• planning funding for a new K to 9 in St. Albert;
• design funding for a replacement of Morinville Public, as well as a new K to 9 school in Palisades/Oxford to replace St. Lucy Catholic Elementary and Katherine Therrien Catholic Elementary; and
• design funding to acquire and modernize the Edmonton Classical Academy charter school Eastgate Campus K to 12.