Calgary public schools need more portable classrooms to ease pressures from growing enrollment, the Calgary Board of Education says.

The school board is asking the province to provide 64 modular classrooms to 17 of its most populated schools for the 2025-2026 school year, as the number of overflow schools increases in the city.

Opening day enrollment in the district increased by 5,436 students from last year, according to a new CBE report.

The report attributes this near-record growth to domestic and international migration.

“Our utilization rate across the entire system is 95 percent…85 percent is considered fully utilized,” said Patricia Bolger, chair of the CBE board of directors.

“Sixty-four modular units would go a long way in allowing children to attend school closer to home.”

Twelve of the 17 schools that need additional laptops for next year are already facing utilization rates above 100 percent.

Centennial Secondary School and Dr. EP Scarlett Secondary School in south Calgary had utilization rates above 120 per cent at the start of the current school year, according to the district.

“Building a school is a three to four year process, so we really need these modules in place,” Bolger said.

The Alberta government has invested in installing 91 new modular classrooms in Calgary this school year, according to Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides.

Simons Valley School, Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School and Ian Bazalgette School in the CBE system are all expected to receive laptops by the end of 2024.

Other schools in the district are expected to receive laptops in early 2025.

Teachers under pressure, according to the union

Teachers have been forced to adapt due to lack of space, according to the Alberta Teachers’ Association.

“When I talk to my colleagues across the province, and particularly in Calgary, they tell me they are seeing class sizes that have never been seen before,” said Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association.

“You try to build relationships with them and work with their strengths and weaknesses.…It’s hard to do when you have 30 or so students in a class.”

Schilling also said he has been contacted by teachers who spend time with their classes in hallways, stairways or libraries due to a lack of space.

Last month, the provincial government launched an ambitious plan to ease the pressure created by the student enrollment boom.

The School Construction Acceleration Program will cost $8.6 billion over three years and will build up to 90 new schools in Alberta.

The first round of new school projects will be announced in the 2025 budget.

Schilling wants to see more investment in short-term solutions to combat classroom overcrowding, such as laptops.

“Ultimately, it’s the government’s decisions about where it wants to invest its money,” Schilling said.

“They have failed to fund inflation and growth for many, many years and, unfortunately, students, parents and teachers are facing the consequences of these decisions.

In a statement, Nicolaides said the province will ultimately create 2,800 student spaces through modular classrooms for this school year.

He said 26 temporary classrooms are still on the way and the province is working as quickly as possible to install them.