While Saskatchewan is jumping on the P3 school bandwagon, the Province of Nova Scotia jumped off 13 years ago – but is still paying the price of long-term contracts.

The Conservative Hamm government scrapped the P3 model in 2000, calling it a failure for the money. In this CBC report, Nova Scotia’s education minister said P3 construction costs had spiraled out of control. He said schools built the traditional way would cost 15% less.

A decade later, school officials were still struggling with operations contracts that, according to a provincial auditor’s report, failed to serve the public interest and left student health and safety in jeopardy. The auditor found that basic responsibilities went undone – from staff criminal records checks to scheduled upgrading of equipment – while companies involved enjoyed profit margins of up to 34% through subcontracting.

Related Alberta study: Private, Profit Public Loss: The Community Impact of Alberta P3 Schools