Concerns about anticipated construction delays under a P3 model has prompted the Calgary Board of Education to request a return to the former design-build approach.

“We are concerned that if a public-private partnership (P3) approach is used for any new schools which are approved, that the schools would not be available until September 2017,” board chair Sheila Taylor wrote in a letter to Minister of Education Jeff Johnson on Jan. 24.

The letter noted the CBE has proven in-house experience and skills to manage school capital projects. The board is concerned that enrolment pressures won’t be met, after just one bidder answered the province’s request for P3 proposals for 19 new schools.

“We’re a $1.2-billion school system, so we have these departments within our facilities system that have the know-how and the manpower to execute on this,” Taylor told the Calgary Herald.

A ministry spokesperson responded in the media that the province may be considering alternatives to P3s, including a return to design-builds managed by local school boards.

Read the letter

Calgary Herald article Feb 4 2014