There are many financial and logistical considerations the school district must take into account when making a case for reopening a closed school.

Building standards

• To bring a closed school up to operating standards set by the North Vancouver School District and Ministry of Education, while site-specific, would cost somewhere between $500,000 to $1 million.*

• A professional assessment of the building's interior and exterior systems, including HVAC, plumbing and structural examinations, is required to ensure they are brought into compliance with current building and life safety codes.

• Leased facilities may require renovations to remove tenant improvements and restore the facilities to current Ministry Area Standards.

• Potential costs to upgrade and install infrastructure and technology.

• In certain cases the entire building would need to be replaced.

* Please note: This does not apply to Cloverley or the Lucas Centre as both buildings have exceeded their useful life, are beyond repair and will need to be replaced.

Staffing costs

• To supply a school with a principal, vice-principal, librarian, office staff, supervision aides and custodians requires at least $375,000 in annual fixed costs.
  

Utilities and maintenance costs

• Utility costs and general building upkeep, such as electrical and plumbing repairs, can run in the order of $350,000 to $375,000 annually per elementary school site.

• Reopening a school also places further strain on limited capital funding allocated to the school district each year to address building systems renewal in aging facilities.

Lost lease revenue

• While there are increased costs associated with reactivating a school, at the same time the district loses revenue – approximately $400,000 to $500,000 annually – from not being able to rent out the site long-term.

Enrolment considerations

• Unless there is an enrolment increase of enough new students to fill the capacity of an entire school, reopening a school would mean redistributing students already within the North Vancouver School District. Since the total enrolment of the school district would remain the same, no additional student funding would be provided.

• Even if enough new students were to enrol to fill the formerly closed school, the revenue generated from ministry funding would not cover the lost lease revenue from no longer renting out that building.

• Reopening a school would require school catchment changes for the entire area, affecting many schools and families.