Unclear how N.S. is prioritizing where new schools are built, auditor general says

Nova Scotia's auditor general says the province needs to be more transparent about how it's spending money on school infrastructure.

Auditor General Kim Adair looked at the decision-making process behind all major school projects that were in the works as of September 2024, with a total value of $2 billion. She concluded that the process wasn't grounded in evidence and needs improvement.

She said the province should be considering enrolment projections, modular and portable use, and upcoming housing developments, among other factors, but it does not seem to always be doing so.

"A new school can be upwards of $100 million. You're going to impact our students for decades ahead. It should not be a subjective process," she said at a news conference Tuesday.

One example in Adair's report is that of four new schools for the Halifax area announced in 2023. She said the Education Department justified them based on their proximity to new housing developments. However, there were seven areas in Halifax with new housing developments, and Adair said the province couldn't clarify how it picked the four.

Lack of answers

"The concerning thing, if you read through this report, is the number of sentences where we state we could not get answers, they could not support the decisions, there was no evidence," Adair said.

She also noted that the Halifax Regional Centre for Education requested six new schools in 2023, ranked in order of preference, and the province approved them in a seemingly random way, not following the order HRCE put forward.

Critical condition, delays

Adair reported that 30 per cent of Nova Scotia's 372 schools are in poor condition and three per cent are in critical condition. Another 21 per cent of schools haven't had an assessment of their condition in over five years.

She said the schools in poor and critical condition don't represent a safety issue, but the information is an important tool that should be used for planning purposes.

A spokesperson for the Education Department said some of the schools the auditor general found to be critical are no longer in that condition following recent maintenance. In other cases, they said the department and regional centres for education are working on or scheduling upgrades. Many of the schools on the critical list need new roofs, windows and siding.

Adair called out delays to four school replacement projects, including St. Joseph's-Alexander McKay school in Halifax, whose reopening has been repeatedly pushed back. Adair said another three cases — two in Cape Breton and one in Fairview-Clayton Park — have had no progress in seven years.

Meanwhile, Adair said, costs have doubled and the time lapse may result in schools that are no longer big enough for their communities.

Room for political influence

A similar review of school capital planning was completed in 2016 by Adair's predecessor, Michael Pickup. He found problems with government decision-making surrounding three new schools that were put in three Liberal-held ridings by a Liberal government, leading to accusations of political influence. 

Adair said there have been improvements to the decision-making process since then, but not enough. She said there is still room for subjectivity and political influence, although she stopped short of suggesting there has, in fact, been political influence in any recent projects.

The 2016 report led to the launch of the current capital planning process in 2019. NDP education critic Paul Wozney said there hasn't been enough progress since then.

"What we need is a long-term planning process that makes sense, to get schools built so we don't have to house our kids in stopgap buildings like modulars and portables," he told reporters.

Adair made six recommendations, all of which the province has accepted.

Education Minister Brendan Maguire would not do an interview but said in an emailed statement that updates to the capital planning process are underway. He said his department is working with the Finance and Public Works departments, as well as the regional centres for education and the French school board.