NDP Leader John Horgan and the BC NDP announced on Wednesday that they will build schools to make sure Surrey students are learning in real classrooms, not portables.
“Surrey is one of the fastest-growing areas in BC. More than 1,000 new students are coming into Surrey schools each year. Christy Clark’s failure to plan for growth has resulted in 10 per cent of Surrey students –  7,000 kids – learning in portables,” said Horgan.
“We’re going to make sure that students get every chance to succeed. We’re going to build schools that create jobs for people and get Surrey students into real classrooms.”
For every portable in Surrey, $15,000 comes out of the district’s operating budget – money that could otherwise be spent on school programs. Horgan said building proper schools using capital investments will get kids in Surrey out of portables and will free up desperately needed operating money to hire more teachers.
The NDP will invest $10 billion in capital infrastructure that will create 96,000 jobs over five years by building schools, hospitals, transit and other infrastructure that works for BC.

Horgan said the NDP will build new schools and invest in students by:

• Replacing Surrey portables with real classrooms and building new schools in BC’s fastest growing region
• Delivering stable and proper education funding to ensure kids have the support they need to thrive
• Working with local governments, First Nations and communities to build and upgrade schools in every region
• Building new schools with made-in-BC manufactured wood products where possible, spurring growth and creating jobs in our forestry communities.