Surrey mayor says city needs more schools: ‘we need them now’

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke says things can’t continue as they are in the city’s schools, as the district is now considering double-stacking portables to create enough room for students.

Locke’s comments come after Surrey’s council declared a “state of school infrastructure crisis” on Monday, saying children’s education is being affected.

“Education is the responsibility of the Province of British Columbia, and it is really incumbent on them to put Surrey kids first, to put Surrey students at the front of this equation,” she said.

“We need more schools.”

Locke says the idea of having to double-stack portables to handle the number of students is mind-boggling.

“My plea is to the provincial government, to the premier, to consider what’s going on in Surrey School District. We need those schools and we need them now. We can’t wait for years to come. We are building because the premier and the federal government want us to build housing. We’re trying to fulfill that need but we need the support on infrastructure — on all infrastructure,” Locke said.

Related Articles:

• Surrey council declares ‘school infrastructure crisis’

• Surrey MLA speaks out against potential for double-decker portables in schools

On Monday, the mayor’s office said there were more than 2,200 new students in September, a number that is continually growing.

Gary Tymoschuk, the vice-chair of the Surrey Board of Education, says with that growth, there hasn’t been enough space to keep up.

“To put it in perspective, for the 2,200 students we received last year, since then, the provincial government has only come up with 700 additional new spaces for us, which means our district has to continue to use portables. I think that’s where…the whole issue of crisis, if you will, is come up with.”

“The Surrey School District has over 77,000 children in it. We [have] 25,000 more students than the next largest school district. We need this infrastructure and we need it today,” Locked added.