Premier Jim Prentice announced plans for more than two hundred capital projects in an effort to catch up to high student enrollment.

The three phase plan includes 230 capital projects, both new schools and modernizations, all over five years.

As part of Wednesday’s announcement is phase three, including 55 new schools and 20 modernizations.

Phase one was announced in 2011, including 35 schools – the province said 31 of those are complete.

Phase two was announced in 2013, and it includes 50 new schools and 70 modernizations. The province said all but five of the phase two schools will be finished and accepting students in 2016.

The new and modernized schools announced Wednesday will be completed in the following communities:

  • Edmonton – 15 schools, 3 modernizations
  • Calgary – 12 schools, 4 modernizations
  • Grande Prairie – 3 schools, 1 modernization
  • Okotoks – 2 schools
  • Airdrie – 2 schools
  • Medicine Hat – 2 schools
  • St. Albert – 2 schools, 1 modernization
  • Beaumont – 2 schools, 1 modernization
  • Fort McMurray – 2 schools
  • Red Deer – 1 school, 1 modernization
  • Sherwood Park – 1 school, 1 modernization
  • Taber – 2 modernizations

The communities of Cochrane, Canmore, Strathmore, Lethbridge, Brooks, Blackfalds, Spruce Grove, Fort Saskatchewan, Morinville, Cleardale, and Peace River will all have one new school each. In addition, the communities of Wabasca, Ashmont, Edson, Condor, Dunmore and Stirling will each have one modernization.

In Edmonton, the fifteen new schools will be divided with nine under Edmonton Public, four for Edmonton Catholic and one charter school, another eight are planned for communities in the surrounding area:

  • Edmonton Public will have two Kindergarten to Grade 6 schools in Windermere and Meadows, with six Kindergarten to Grade 9 schools in Lewis Farms, The Grange, Heritage Valley, Southeast Edmonton, Ellerslie and Palisades.
  • A new science, technology and trades high school will be built on the NAIT Campus. The NAIT Collegiate school will be for Grades 10 to 12 and will be shared between the Catholic and Public school districts
  • Edmonton Catholic Schools will have three Kindergarten to Grade 9 schools in the Heritage Valley, Pilot Sound and Ellerslie.
  • Aurora Charter School wraps up the new schools for Edmonton.
  • In St. Albert, the Great St. Albert Roman Catholic district will see a new Kindergarten to Grade 9 school in Erin Ridge. The same school district will also see a Kindergarten to Grade 6 school in Morinville.
  • St. Albert Public Schools will also gain one school, with students in Kindergarten to Grade 9.
  • Spruce Grove will see a Kindergarten to Grade 9 school in the Parkland School Division.
  • Beaumont will see two Kindergarten to Grade 9 schools, one for the Black Gold Regional School district and another for St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Schools.
  • In Sherwood Park, Elk Island Public Schools will gain a Kindergarten to Grade 9 school.
  • Fort Saskatchewan will see a school serving Grades 9 to 12, under the Elk Island Catholic School district.

The province said the new announcements include $43.2 million for Alberta school boards this year to start planning for the new schools and modernizations – it’s expected to accelerate the projects by up to one year. Communities where the schools will be located have already been identified, the province said.