Lake Kathlyn Elementary may be saved from closure after all.
Today in Quesnel, Premier Christy Clark announced a new $2.5 million Rural Education Enhancement Fund. It’s a permanent, grant-allocation program designed to keep rural schools open.
Clark says the Province wants to work cooperatively with schools districts.
“They’re the decision-making body and ultimately, they’re locally elected. We can’t make them take the money, but we hope that they will,” she says.
Funding would be equal to a District’s expected savings from closing the school.
The Province’s official release says that communities with populations smaller than 15,000 can apply if funding is needed to keep the school open and “closure would eliminate specific grades within the community.”
Lake Kathlyn Elementary was specifically named as a school eligible for funding in 2016-17.