No grants for school playgrounds

The mayor says school playgrounds should not be in the running for a grant designed to improve local facilities.

Mayor Nolan Crouse introduced a motion at city council last week that would prevent school groups from applying for the city’s community capital grant program. The program provides community groups matching dollars to help with repairs and construction to local facilities. Crouse said playgrounds should be included in the city’s normal capital budgeting process.

“It should be part of regular capital, not a one-time thing,” he said in an interview. “We should have it in the regular budget.”

While reviewing last year’s community capital grant program, four school playgrounds benefited from city dollars. The city distributed $256,000 collectively to help local parent groups build the playgrounds.

Coun. Gareth Jones said that while schools need help with their playground equipment, by taking them out of the grant process and adding them to the regular budget the city is opening the grant to a wider applicant pool.

“Because of the high cost of these things, it was taking away from other funding possibilities,” he said. “The safety issues for these things are always changing.”

Jones added he would like to see the city not only fund the projects, but also create a reserve fund specifically for the purpose of funding school playground work, including maintenance over the equipment’s lifespan.

Morag Pansegrau, chair of St. Albert Protestant Schools, said playground equipment is not only vital to the schools, but also to the children in the surrounding community. She added that they provide a respite from schoolwork for children, while helping them maintain their health.

“It’s only right and proper to help the school playgrounds since they are used by the community,” she said. “There’s not a fence, and they’re wide open.”

Pansegrau said neither the school board nor Alberta Education provide funding for school playgrounds. Instead, schools and parent councils have to fundraise for the equipment, and praised the work parents put into their efforts to give children a place to play.

With Crouse’s suggestion that they fund school playground work through the regular budget process, Pansegrau said it would go a long way to helping parents with their work to bring equipment to the schools.

“We certainly appreciate the fact that they’re willing to do this,” she said. “We think it would be quite appropriate for the city to help with the playground.”

Crouse’s motion was postponed until September to allow for the grants process to play out for the 2010 financial year, as well as allow more consultation time with various groups and budget discussions.