Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / Pattison Media / Chilliwack School District has revealed in a staff financial report attached to this week's Board of Education meeting agenda package that it has grown by thousands of students over the past decade, while it has acquired and maintained nearly 100 portables.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack School District

After growing by thousands of students the past decade, SD33 reveals it has nearly 100 portables

Sep 16, 2024 | 3:27 PM

CHILLIWACK — Chilliwack School District has revealed in a staff financial report attached to this week’s Board of Education meeting agenda package that it has grown by thousands of students over the past decade, while it has acquired and maintained nearly 100 portables.

As a matter of fact, the district has grown each year by the equivalent of enough students to fill an elementary school.

According to a draft 38-page report entitled “Financial Statement Discussion & Analysis”, enrolment in SD33 totaled 12,082 full-time equivalent students in the 2013-14 school year.

A decade later, partly because Chilliwack was the second-fastest growing city in all of Canada from 2016-2021 behind only Kelowna, Chilliwack School District had 15,318 FTE students.

Image: SD33 / SD33 enrolment figures showing a staggering increase in the number of students between 2013-14 and 2023-24. SD33 now has over 15,000 students enrolled in the district.

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“The increase of students has a direct impact on our government grant funding and the costs required to support these students,” the report stated. “It also required a significant investment in space to accommodate the influx. The average annual student increase is enough to fill a new elementary school each year.”

Meanwhile, the district’s long-term student enrolment forecasts show “ongoing, moderate growth” across the city. Following years of having to purchase portables to manage this growth, SD33 wrote in its report that it is excited to see the approval of several capital building projects to alleviate the pressure.

However, SD33 disclosed it has nearly 100 portables on school district properties.

Image: SD33 / The SD33 administrative team of Superintendent Rohan Arul-pragasam, and Assistant Superintendents David Manuel, Paula Jordan and Dr. Kirk Savage.

“There continues to be an increasing demand for space throughout the District,” SD33 wrote. “The District currently has close to 100 portables, which are expensive to purchase and maintain.”

SD33 went on to acknowledge that even with the advent of new schools and expansion projects, they will not be adequate for its current over-capacity situation and future enrolment forecasts. It also said government bureaucracy plays a role in how quickly capital projects are processed.

“The long-term facilities plan has identified the need for several new schools; however, suitable land is in short supply in the area, and the government capital approval process takes considerable time,” SD33 wrote.