This officially opened in the Sault today

NEWS RELEASE

DAVID ORAZIETTI, MPP

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Orazietti announces official opening of French Catholic school in Sault Ste. Marie

Provincial investment in new state-of-the-srt school supports student success in Sault Ste. Marie

SAULT STE. MARIE - The province continues to demonstrate its strong support for improving education and upgrading infrastructure in Sault Ste. Marie with the official opening of the new, state-of-the-art and environmentally efficient Ècole Notre-Dame-du-Sault, which is allowing for the consolidation of two junior kindergarten to grade eight elementary schools and one secondary school including grades 9-12 David Orazietti, MPP announced today.

“Our government has made rebuilding the education system in Sault Ste. Marie a top-priority and we are building state-of-the-art schools that will help all of our students reach their full potential,” said Orazietti. “It has been decades since a provincial government has provided the financial support to build new schools and substantially improve existing school infrastructure in our city and in addition, the huge investment in per pupil funding has helped to raise graduation rates from 68 percent in 2003 to 82 percent today.”

The provincial government provided a total of $11,260,000 million under the French-Language Capital Transitional Program for a renovation of École Notre-Dame-des-Écoles and the construction of a new 46,500 square foot expansion of which CSCNO will invest $1,240,000 for a total of $12,500,000.

French students moving into this new facility are currently enrolled at Notre-Dame-des-Écoles, École élémentaire catholique Cardinal-Léger on Rankin Road and École secondaire catholique Notre-Dame-des-Grands-Lacs on St. Georges Avenue East.

After decades of neglect, the provincial government has invested nearly $200 million in improvements, upgrades and modernization to school infrastructure in Sault Ste. Marie.

This provincial funding includes five new school infrastructure projects totalling approximately $130 million as follows:

• $46.7 million for the Algoma District School Board to construct Superior Heights Secondary School
• $43 million for the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board to construct a new St. Mary’s Secondary School
• $15.5 million for the Algoma District School Board to construct a new Francis H. Clergue Elementary School
• $14.6 million for the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board to construct Holy Cross Elementary School
• $10.4 million for the Conseil Scolaire Catholique du Nouvel Ontario to expand Ècole Notre-Dame-du-Sault

In addition to the five local school infrastructure projects the province is supporting, there have also been significant increases to local Grants for Student Needs (GSN) funding in Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma, which remains higher than the provincial average.

This year, local GSN funding will be approximately $14,000 per student, reflecting an increase of nearly $6,000 per student, which is a 70 percent increase since 2003.

Over the last nine years, per-pupil funding to Sault and area schools has increased by over $34 million despite a decline in enrollment of over 5,500 students.

These provincial investments have protected 98 teaching jobs, 45 education assistant jobs and 44 support staff jobs in Sault Ste. Marie.

Provincial funding is also being provided outside of these grants to support the province’s full-day kindergarten program, which is now offered at every school in Sault Ste. Marie.

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