The Capital Plan was recently presented to trustees on the Lambton-Kent District School Board, focusing on school conditions and demographics.

A lot of the funding is based on these numbers.

Both elementary and secondary schools saw a drop in enrollment because of the pandemic, as many students went to home schooling instead of the virtual learning option.

They don’t consider this a trend.

Director of Education John Howitt was pleased with the funding the board is receiving for the coming year.

We received our funding from the province to allow us to move forward with our budgeting. We are very pleased to share that supports for students in areas like reading and math have been enhanced for next year, and also that mental health supports for our students will be available through the summer and enhanced again next year. The budget very clearly recognized the challenges that school boards face during this pandemic, and that was really good news for us.”

Overall there were 20,918 students enrolled, with projected capacity for the coming school year at 75 per cent in elementary schools, and 65 per cent in secondary.