Hundreds of new seats open at Surrey elementary school

The B.C. government announced the completion of a new addition to Surrey’s Walnut Road Elementary Thursday, saying it will provide an extra 295 new seats for students.

Minister of Infrastructure Bowinn Ma says the province is racing to build enough new schools to keep up with Surrey’s booming population.

Over the past eight years, the province has invested about $1 billion in Surrey school construction, but Ma says more needs to be done.

“Despite the fact that our government has invested in creating 15,000 additional new seats, we still have work to do, because the population in this community is growing,” she said.

The minister did not hesitate to put some of the onus on the former Liberal.

“In the four years before [it] formed government in 2017, the BC Liberal government invested in exactly one school expansion and zero schools.”

Ma says the province spent about $18 million on the Walnut Road Elementary School expansion.

Last year, the provincial government announced a number of additions to schools around Surrey: an 800-seat addition at Fleetwood Park Secondary, 500 more seats for Kwantlen Park Secondary, and 575 for Tamawanis Secondary. Ta’talu Elementary was opened this year, with 655 seats.

In addition, Snokomish Elementary, which is currently under construction, will accommodate up to 655 students.

Surrey is the largest school district in B.C., with projections estimating up to 96,000 students to be enrolled by 2033.

— With a file from Cecilia Hua.