The regional school board has decided not to decide on its top-ten funding requests from the provincial government.
   
The province wants to know by April 20 what the board’s priorities are for school construction and renovation in 2012, but board members say they can’t make any commitments until a review of schools in Dartmouth is complete.

One of the capital projects on the wish list for 2012 is a new school to replace South Woodside School – but a decision on closing South Woodside won’t be made until the board meeting on March 28.

Another potential capital project calls for expanding Bicentennial school to include grades primary through 9 – but that depends on the closure of Prince Arthur Jr. High, which has not been decided.

Board member Gin Yee said it didn’t make sense to endorse the capital projects list without the results of the school review.

“What you would do, is you would pass early judgement on the closures of South Woodside School, Prince Arthur Jr. High and the reconfiguration of Bicentennial School,” he said. “I urge my colleagues to pass the deferral.”

Jim Joyce, SAC member at Bicentennial, says the board’s decision to defer was the right one. He says accepting the capital projects list would have pre-empted a fair review process.

“It didn’t make sense to be passing a mention for this money to be spent when it hasn’t been decided, the outcome of Prince Arthur and how Bicentennial’s going to be affected by it,” he said. “We’re talking fairly large amounts of money here.”

The board will hold a special meeting after March 28 to vote on the capital projects list before the April 20 deadline.