While Quebec plans to reduce the amounts allocated to the preventive maintenance of schools for the next year, the leaders of the school network believe that it is necessary to invest 20 times more money in order to reduce the cost of the renovation work to be carried out. afterwards.
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Since coming to power, the Coalition avenir Québec has considerably increased the amounts devoted to school renovations. For the next year, an additional $500 million will be invested in it, for a total of nearly $1.9 billion granted in the school network’s investment budget.
The school network also receives sums allocated to its operating budget for minor preventive maintenance work. It can be caulking windows or repairing mortar in a brick wall, for example, to prevent possible water infiltration.
However, after having received $92M for the preventive maintenance of buildings in 2022-2023, Quebec plans to grant $77.3M for the next school year, when 61% of school buildings are considered to be in poor condition, according to indicators from the Ministry. Over a five-year horizon, however, the amounts will be increased.
From 77 million to 1.5 billion
The leaders of the school network nevertheless deplore this short-term drop and urge Quebec to do much more: in a few years, it is rather $1.5 billion that should be invested in preventive maintenance, or 2% of the value replacement of the housing stock according to good practices in the matter, can we read in a memorandum on the draft budgetary rules 2023-2024 drafted by the representatives of the school service centers and their directors general and executives, recently submitted to the Ministry education.
The sums devoted to maintenance are “clearly insufficient”, affirms Dominique Robert, assistant president and general manager of the Federation of the centers of school services of Quebec.
“What is requested has been decried for a few years now. We want the envelope to be increased gradually, knowing that we will not go from 77 million to 1.5 billion in a single year, “he said, while welcoming the increase in the amounts devoted to the renovation of schools,
“The two envelopes (for preventive maintenance and renovations) are equally important” to keep school buildings in good condition, he says.
In the office of the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, it is indicated that “never has a government done so much” in terms of investment in the renovation of schools.
“We are aware that we must continue to invest in maintenance and we will do so,” said his press officer, Florence Plourde.
The average age of Quebec schools is 56 years old.