Education
New Kanti locations in Windisch and Lenzburg: millions in loans for further planning
Aargau’s middle schools have been running at full capacity for years. The education committee of the Grand Council has approved the two new high schools in Lenzburg and Windisch and has approved the corresponding commitment credits. The Grand Council will make its decision in the autumn.
The cantonal school in Wohlen is to be expanded, and further locations in Aargau are planned.
Image: Colin Frei
The Aargau middle school system is running at its limits – and that’s an understatement. As the Department of Education writes on its website, the schools with the two locations in Aarau and one location each in Baden, Wettingen, Wohlen and Zofingen are running at capacity. The average occupancy rate is 114 percent. In addition to the approximately 6,000 middle school students in Aargau, a further 630 young people from the Fricktal attend high schools in the two Basels.
From the next school year, however, the Basel-Landschaft will no longer accept any new students from Aargau. Politicians have recognized the need for action. It has long been clear that the Fricktal will have its own high school from the 2029/30 school year. In March, the Grand Council decided that two new middle schools should be built in Aargau, in Lenzburg and Windisch. In a first reading, the Council unanimously approved a corresponding revision of the school law. At the same time, the cantonal school in Wohlen and the old Aarau high school are to be expanded.
Meanwhile, further details about the planned locations in Lenzburg and Windisch have been announced. The Grand Council Commission for Education, Culture and Sport (BKS) has now discussed the new school law for the second time and approved it, as Commission President Titus Meier (FDP) announced.
Titus Meier, FDP Grand Councillor and President of the Commission for Education, Culture and Sport.
Image: Alex Spichale
Some commission members are of the opinion that the opening of the two cantonal schools should be staggered. The first should begin operations in 2035, the second five years later and only if there is still a need. According to Meier, other commission members explicitly wanted a parallel approach, as the space requirement at the schools is so great and urgent. For them, the opening of the second location in the 2040/41 school year would be too late.
This is how expensive the planning of the Kanti locations will be
The commission also discussed the commitment loans requested by the government council. They are planned for the preparations for the land use plan procedure, the architectural competition, the early project planning and a project position. A loan of 3.44 million francs is expected for the Kanti in Lenzburg, plus annual building rights interest of 320,000 francs gross. The loan for Windisch is 22.2 million francs. However, this includes the costs of acquiring the land, which amount to a maximum of 18.6 million francs.
According to Titus Meier, there was a motion in the commission to reject the two loans. Background: “Instead of the planned approach, a general performance competition with a total contractor tender should be examined for the planning and implementation. The motion is justified by the fact that the procedure via an architectural competition is expensive and also takes longer,” writes the commission president in his statement. A majority of the commission members, however, supported the government council’s argument and rejected the motion.
The Grand Council is expected to decide on the commitment credits as early as September.
