Building & Modernizing Schools
School Maintenance & Renewal
Each year the Province announces funding levels under its Maintenance & Renewal (M&R) Programs made available to the CBE for the primary purpose of investing in the repair and replacement of major facility components.
The provincial School Capital Manual outlines that school jurisdictions must utilize M&R funding to:
- ensure school facilities meet all regulatory requirements, particularly as they pertain to providing a safe and healthy learning environment;
- preserve and improve the quality of the learning environment by:
- replacing building components that have failed;
- prolonging the life of the school facility through planned, proactive replacement of major components; and
- upgrading of the educational areas to meet programming requirements.
- meet the facility requirements of students with special needs; and
- replace or upgrade building components to improve energy conservation and efficiency and to achieve cost savings as a result.
Funding from the M&R programs is NOT to be used for major capital projects, including the addition of permanent or modular school space.
There are currently two M&R programs available to school authorities:
- Infrastructure maintenance and renewal (IMR): provided based on the school year (September 1 to August 31), which is allocated to school jurisdictions on a formula basis. IMR projects must meet the above criteria and the expenditures may be capitalized or expensed; and
- Capital maintenance and renewal (CMR): provided based on the Government of Alberta fiscal year (April 1 to March 31) and is project specific but still allocated on a formula basis. Besides meeting the above criteria, CMR projects must be capitalized and cannot be expensed.
