Carlyle school won’t go to tender this spring
March 30, 2026, 9:43 am
Nicole Taylor Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Ministry of Education has pushed back the tendering process for the new school in Carlyle. While the project remains approved and will go ahead, Director of Education Keith Keating told the World-Spectator last week that the ministry is slowing down the tendering process for some new schools, including Carlyle’s.
South East Cornerstone School Division submitted revised drawings and specifications for the new Pre-K to Grade 12 school in Carlyle, as well as a cost estimate, to the Ministry of Education in February.
“We submitted it in February, and we were waiting for approval. That wouldn’t come until March 30. When the budget came down, we heard word from the ministry that a number of projects would be delayed as a result of some of the budgetary restrictions they had,” says Keating.
“The ministry reached out and had a conversation with our board chair, and then we got a bit more information through e-mail after that.
“Right now, we’ve been told that the construction costs were really going up, and the government would be sequencing projects that are entering construction. So that meant that some of them would have to be phased in. The Carlyle School project was one of the ones impacted by this to move into construction. They also communicated with us that this decision is not a reflection of project priority, and that school still remains on the books.
“They haven’t actually given us an updated timeline yet, only that the ministry is committed to continue on with that build.
“The project itself has been approved, but it’s the tender process and construction that are still awaiting approval. They say they are still committed to the school build itself, but have paused the tender for now.”
Keating says there were no issues with the cost estimate that was submitted by the school division.
“We were pretty close to the budget. We submitted those revised drawings, specs and cost estimates. But from my understanding, it sounds like a lot of the tenders they were getting back on the majority of their builds were higher than what they expected them to be.
“I think that the main issue was that the ministry was worried about the fact that if they did go to tender with the project at the moment, that it would be much higher than expected. At this point we haven’t heard back regarding those revised estimates. It’s going to be dependant on when we hear back from them. They’re basically just slowing down the process a bit.
“My understanding at the moment is than no earth will move in 2026, but possibly in 2027.
“Right now, we’re just waiting to hear back from them on the documents we currently submitted to see what the feedback is on that. If there’s more work to be done in the design stage prior to going out to tender, then I guess that gives us some time to proceed with any work that is required.”
Keating says the school division was disappointed to hear that the new school won’t be built soon, but added that they would rather have the project done correctly than quickly.
“Our reaction was probably the same as the town’s—disappointed. We were upset that the construction has been put on pause, while at the same time we want to make sure that when we do go to build it, they have the dollars necessary to make it a project that’s going to last.
“I would rather have them pause and do a good quality build on it than take a shortcut to cut costs.”
