School assessments aim to bring 'solid logic' to infrastructure spending

The government of P.E.I. has issued a tender for a review of the state of the province's schools.

Most of the schools in the province are more than 30 years old. In November the Public Schools Branch asked the province to do an assessment of what kind of shape those schools are in.

"It was to ensure that when we go to allocate capital resources in the future there's a solid logic and footing that underpins the priority within which we allocate those resources," said Education Minister Jordan Brown.

The assessment will first and foremost look at the basic structure of the schools, but the review will also cover items such as aging boilers, leaky windows and deteriorating gym floors.

The tender does not list an estimated value, but in November Finance Minister Heath MacDonald put the cost at about $500,000.

The tender closes March 21 and Brown said the work should be completed by the end of August.

That will provide the Public Schools Branch and the French Language School Board time to review the information before they have to present their infrastructure priorities to the government by mid-September. The province will consider those requests as it puts together the capital budget in the fall.

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