Building schools closer to home

Alberta has a world-class education system, and our students continually rank among the best in the world. With more families choosing to call Alberta home, our schools are seeing record numbers of students. To meet this demand, Alberta’s government has committed to building 90 new schools and upgrading classrooms across the province.

We are shortening commutes and bringing more schools within biking or walking distance for our kids.

To find a school project in your community:

See our list of active school projects

More classrooms for better learning opportunities

Through the Schools Now program, Alberta’s government will invest $8.6 billion to create more than 200,000 new and updated student spaces by 2031/32. We will do this by building new schools, updating or replacing existing schools, expanding our use of modular classrooms and supporting the opening of more charter school spaces.

  • Icon of a school

    Building up to 90 new schools

  • Icon of a mathematical compass

    Updating or replacing up to 24 existing schools

  • Icon of a chalkboard with the equation 1 + 3 written on it

    Supplying modular classrooms

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    Creating additional public charter school builds

Building schools faster

From planning to construction, building a school can be a years-long process. But with the growing demand for new schools, waiting is not an option. That’s why we overhauled our funding process to speed things up. Now, instead of waiting for the annual budget cycle, funding can be approved as soon as a project is ready to move forward.

This faster approach has already accelerated 38 school projects – and counting – so new schools can open their doors to students sooner.

See the full list of accelerated school projects.

Illustration of a student wearing a helmet and using a bicycle
Illustration of a student crossing a street with assistance from a crossing guard

Enhancing our modular classrooms program

While we are working quickly to open new schools, we are also enhancing our modular classrooms program to make sure students have the space they need while those schools are being built.

Budget 2026 commits $600 million over 3 years to deliver modular classrooms to the schools experiencing the greatest enrolment pressures.

In 2026/27, we are investing $200 million to fund 189 new modular classrooms, along with 12 new washroom units, 10 replacements, 29 relocations and 9 demolitions. This investment will deliver about 5,450 student spaces in the communities facing the most urgent capacity challenges.

In 2025-26, we invested $100 million to purchase 115 new modular classrooms, supporting 2,825 new student spaces and 275 relocated spaces in some of Alberta’s fastest-growing communities.

This builds on the $140-million investment in modular classrooms in 2024.

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