Persistence is an option that Norm Letnick, MPP for Kelowna-Lake Country, continues to use to secure capital funding for the replacement of Rutland Middle School.
With a new Education and Children’s Minister appointed to the cabinet by Prime Minister David Eby, Surrey-Green Timbers MP Rachna Singh constituency, Letnick took the opportunity to request a meeting in the near future to reiterate the importance of local spending priorities.
“You raise these issues each year as part of the budget planning process, and next year there are capital spending needs for the Central Okanagan School District, especially as it pertains to Rutland Middle School,” Letnick said.
“All MPs are doing the same thing, but you must continue to defend the interests of your constituents. We have had success with the new Lake Country Middle School and the financial commitment to a new Westside High School.
“The battle goes on and you never give up.”
He also acknowledged that a new school board could also bring about a shift in capital planning priorities, although the replacement of Rutland Middle has been the schools’ top replacement priority for many years.
“We just have to keep the faith. I have heard from parents and other MPs and school administrators talking about the need to replace Rutland Middle. Everyone here wants the same thing,” she said.
“It’s about continuing to chase those scarce dollars allocated across the province and continuing to advocate for some of those dollars to get here.”
For more than a decade, the school district has attempted to address Rutland Middle’s aging infrastructure problems by replacing the school.
A search for a new school site failed to find a suitable location and attempts to remove land from the farmland reserve for a school site were rejected by the Farmland Commission.
Another proposal to disperse Quigley Elementary students to other nearby schools and transform the school into a new middle school was also rejected by the Department of Education, which gave higher priority to funding college capital expenditures for the construction of new schools in growing areas.
Central Okanagan Regional DistrictCity of KelownaSchool District
