Building & Modernizing Schools

Overview

With the tremendous increase in Calgary's population in the last five years and many families deciding to live in new, suburban communities, new schools are needed. We also need to modernize existing schools, many of which are more than 50 years old, to meet the learning needs of students.

New schools are being built across the city to support growing communities and future student enrolment.

Capital Planning

Building New Schools

Each year, Alberta Education reviews CBE’s Three-Year School Capital Plan to determine which projects will be funded and at what stage. The CBE works with provincial and municipal partners throughout planning and construction.

Typical timelines are 3–4 years for elementary and middle schools and 4–5 years for high schools.

View School Projects

Space Expansion

Modular Classrooms

Modular classrooms are stand-alone or attached spaces that add flexible capacity to schools that are full or nearing capacity. They can be added, moved, or removed as enrolment needs change. Each year, the CBE requests modulars through Alberta Education & Childcare, which also funds new units as well as the relocation, replacement, or removal of existing ones.

Each year, the CBE requests modulars through Alberta Education & Childcare funding programs.

Find Modular Sites

Major Capital Project Requests

The first step in building or modernizing schools is to request and receive funding for the work. Funding for major capital projects is granted by the Alberta government.

Annually, the CBE uses Board approved criteria for school capital planning to evaluate and prioritize these projects. The criteria assess building condition, community renewal, efficiency solutions, enrolment pressures, functionality and programming, health and safety and legal requirements. The result of this process forms the basis for the annual .

The purpose of the Three-Year Capital Plan is to assess and document CBE’s major capital construction needs and prioritize projects. The plan is approved by the CBE’s Board of Trustees and submitted to Alberta Education & Childcare. The government then evaluates CBE’s projects against the project requests from every other Alberta school jurisdiction to determine which projects receive funding approval.

In Alberta, major capital projects move through three main stages: Planning, Design and Construction. While this is the typical process, some projects may skip stages or move ahead more quickly based on factors like site readiness.

In 2024, the province introduced the School Construction Accelerator Program to fast-track the building and modernization of schools. This program allows approved projects to move forward without having to wait for the next provincial budget cycle.

To learn more about the status of CBE’s major capital projects, including new schools, existing schools and modular classroom program projects currently under development or construction, please see our latest Construction Projects Status Report | June 9, 2026.

Community Information Sessions

The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and Alberta Infrastructure hosts community information sessions for new school projects when the reach their preliminary design stage. During this time, we invite the public from impacted communities, as well as local members of government to attend and learn more about the upcoming school projects.

The events are structured as a drop-in format, and allow attendees to browse the design displays, ask questions directly to the project and design team, and share their feedback about the proposed school designs and planning process.

Upcoming information sessions will be posted here when available. Please note, new school projects are funded and managed by Alberta Infrastructure and we will share updated when available on individual project pages listed below.

Please visit our recently updated Questions & Answers for helpful information on new school projects, construction, planning, registration, transportation and more.