Since 2020, municipalities have been required to transfer land free of charge to school service centers for the construction of new schools. Since then, they have continued to denounce this financial burden imposed on them and which weighs down their already tight budgets. In vain so far.
The Municipality of Saint-Lin–Laurentides, whose budget reaches 33 million, had to pay 8 million to acquire land and then transfer it to the Samares School Service Center for the construction of a new primary school . This is only the beginning since the need for schools is great in this municipality of 26,000 people, which has experienced a significant demographic boom over the last decade. Among other things, a secondary school – the municipality does not currently have one – will have to see the light of day in the coming years.
Indeed, the adoption, in February 2020, of Bill 40 (amending the Public Education Act relating to school organization and governance) included an amendment added at the last minute, which now allows centers of school services to require municipalities to transfer land, free of charge, for new school establishments. If a municipality does not own the desired land, it must acquire it by mutual agreement or by expropriation. Municipalities are not taking off.
In Saint-Lin–Laurentides, the two new schools planned will double the city’s general debt, says the mayor, Mathieu Maisonneuve. “It was 8 million for a plot of land of 250,000 sq. ft.2 [pour l’école primaire]. If we need 500,000 ft2 for secondary school, we are talking about 15 to 16 million,” he laments. “It will create an immense burden on people’s debt here. […] We feel stuck. »
Mayor Maisonneuve recognizes that education must be a priority issue. But like many other municipal officials, he argues that education is a responsibility that does not fall under the jurisdiction of municipalities. In this context, the free transfer of land should therefore not be imposed on them.
School in a park?
In Brossard, the Marie-Victorin School Service Center found land for the construction of an elementary school. However, the coveted land of 161,000 sq. ft.2 is located in a municipal park. There can be no question of sacrificing a public park, says the mayor, Doreen Assaad. “Every green space is very precious,” she says. We are trying to see if we can find another solution, such as doing a land exchange, to reconcile their tight deadlines and our reality. »
Laval, for its part, estimates the costs linked to land acquisition for the next ten years at 178 million. “This is nonsense. We will continue the work to favor the use of land and buildings that already belong to the government or even encourage the exchange of land,” commented the mayor, Stéphane Boyer.
For its part, the City of Montreal, which has three school service centers and two English-speaking school boards on its territory, estimates the investments it will have to make in the coming years for new schools at 200 million. But other expenses are added to these costs, because cities must carry out decontamination of land when necessary and plan urban infrastructure such as street development, reminds the head of urban planning to the executive committee, Robert Beaudry. “We all want to have schools. We plan them, we want to be facilitators and find innovative ways. But it is a huge financial burden for municipalities in a jurisdiction that is provincial. »
New models
According to Robert Beaudry, it has become necessary to think about new school models given the galloping increase in land in urbanized areas.
The Montreal School Services Center (CSSDM) will notably need a 24-class school on the former Radio-Canada site, where thousands of housing units will see the light of day. Robert Beaudry indicates that discussions have been initiated to rethink the configuration of schools and consider establishments with more floors and occupying less floor space. “It’s $11,000 per square meter in this area for private land. It’s huge,” he emphasizes. According to him, we must also consider options such as building schoolyards on roofs.
The City is also of the opinion that instead of planning a 24-class school on the Radio-Canada site, as requested by the CSSDM, it would be better to consider two 12-class schools, one on the Radio site. -Canada, and the other on that of Molson, which is also dedicated to redevelopment. “With schools of 12 classes, we ensure we have schools for walkers. So, less car traffic,” says Mr. Beaudry.
Dreaming of the school of the future
The CSSDM does not share this opinion. Deputy Director General for Finance and Material Resources Management at the CSSDM, Stéphane Chaput maintains that such a request is not possible. “We don’t want any of the 12 classes, except for rare exceptions. Because at the bottom of 24 classes, we judge that the service to the students is less good because we end up with part-time tasks for professionals,” he explains.
Building two schools of this size also means providing two school principals and doubling all administrative positions, an additional difficulty in a context of labor shortage. This is, he says, a “major disagreement” with the City.
As for building schools in height, with a smaller footprint to reduce acquisition costs, Stéphane Chaput believes that this concept has limits. According to him, sharing a building with a partner, such as a housing non-profit or a private developer, could be an interesting avenue. Except that such sharing would require legislative changes since currently, school service centers are required to own the land on which they build a school. A pilot project could make it possible to test this concept, says Mr. Chaput.
As for schoolyards on roofs, he says this is a “utopia”. He said he saw such a project for a fenced courtyard in a school in Lyon and was not impressed with the result. “In my opinion, there could be a problem of social acceptability in Quebec,” he says.
In the office of the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, we say we are aware of the difficulties facing cities, while emphasizing that they must think about schools when they do urban planning. “If we want to develop residential areas for families, it is only natural to provide places where a school could be built within walking distance for young people,” indicates the minister’s office in an email. “Discussions are currently underway with the cities to see how we can improve the process. »