Capital planning enables the Vancouver School District to maintain its existing facilities and move towards its long-term goals by building new schools, replacing or upgrading schools, or expanding existing schools. The focus of the annual capital plan prioritization process is to support education programming opportunities, enable students to attend their catchment school, and increase enrolment at seismically safer schools. School districts develop Major and Minor Capital Plans for submission to the Province on an annual basis. Additional information and resources can be found at the Ministry website.

Major Capital Programs

Major capital programs are large, complex projects spanning multiple years. School districts must submit funding requests annually and when Ministry Support for a project is identified then a business case and concept plans will be developed before funding is formalized for major projects. Approvals for these large projects follow multiple stages. Project requests put forward by the VSB have generally been through the Seismic Mitigation Program (SMP) and the School Expansion Program (EXP) funding streams.  

Seismic Mitigation Program (SMP): 
There is an active seismic enhancement project at Grenfell Elementary, which is expected to be completed prior to the start of the 2026-2027 school year.
 
 School Expansion Program (EXP):
The Ministry of Education’s prioritizes expanding school space in areas experiencing consistent growth and enrolment demand exceeding the current capacity. This often relates to high density population growth areas where space optimization has been demonstrated. Current EXP projects include new elementary schools in Coal Harbour (cəw̓as Ch’elxwá7elch Skwuláw̓txw Seaside), Olympic Village and at the Lord Roberts Annex site in the West End. Further details on the School Expansion Program process can be found at the Ministry website.

Minor Capital Programs

Minor capital programs fund the replacement of equipment or components of buildings that will extend the useful life. These are smaller in scale and shorter in duration than Major Programs – typically occurring within one year of funding being provided. Funding for Minor Capital Programs generally supports the maintenance of school sites for the upcoming school year. Funding is provided in the categories below and is applied for annually.

School Enhancement Program (SEP)

Building Envelope Program (BEP)

Carbon Neutral Capital Program (CNCP)

Playground Equipment Program (PEP)

Annual Facility Grant (AFG)

Food Infrastructure Program (FIP)