A day after the provincial budget was released; the Alberta government released more details on school projects referenced in the budget.

The province budgeted $393 million for 20 new school projects, and outlined those projects Friday morning.

Seven new schools are included in that plan, two in Edmonton, three in Calgary and one each in Grande Prairie and Lethbridge.

The two schools announced in Edmonton will be: Ecole A la Decouverte, a new elementary school for the Greater North Central Francophone Education Region No. 2, and Heritage Valley Chappelle East, an elementary/junior high school for Edmonton Public.

The first school will replace an existing one in Queen Mary Park.

“The new building is desperately needed,” Nathalie Lachance, chair of the Francophone School Board said. “The students are very thrilled and so are the parents.”

Michelle Draper, board chair for Edmonton Public Schools, said the district will still push for another project they said will be needed in the future.

“We’re going to continue to advocate for that high school, but we are today celebrating the three announcements,” Draper said.

Edmonton Catholic Schools did not have any projects in the list.

“That’s a major concern to us,” Terry Harris, board chair of Edmonton Catholic Schools said. “We had every expectation that we were going to be having at least one, perhaps two.”

In Calgary, one of the three schools, called Evanston Elementary School, will be under the Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District, the other two fall under Calgary School District No. 19: the Skyview Ranch Elementary/Middle School Project and the Mahogany Elementary School, which is slated for Kindergarten to Grade 4 students.

Two other school projects in Calgary are in the design phase: Auburn Bay Middle School (for Grades 5 to 9), and a new high school in Coventry Hills for Grades 10 to 12.

A new elementary/junior high, called O’Brien Lake West is planned for Grande Prairie under the Grande Prairie Roman Catholic Separate School District and in Grande Prairie.

Funding in the budget was also provided for construction for a new public school in south Lethbridge, for Kindergarten to Grade 5 students.

The province has approved seven school replacement projects:

Delia School, Delia (Kindergarten to Grade 12)

St. Thomas Aquinas School, Provost (Kindergarten to Grade 12)

Tilley Replacement School, Tilley (Kindergarten to Grade 9)

Ecole Le Ruisseau, Brooks. (Kindergarten to Grade 12)

Replacement of Paul Kane High School, St. Albert (Grade 10 to 12)

Stony Plain Central Replacement School, Stony Plain (Kindergarten to Grade 9)

Chester Ronning Replacement, Camrose (Kindergarten to Grade 6)

The province plans on modernizing three schools: an elementary school in Edmonton, Ecole Pere Kenneth Kearns Catholic School in Sherwood Park, and Father Lacombe Catholic School in Lacombe.

An addition to Beaumont’s Ecole Secondaire Beaumont Composite High School (Grades 9 to 12) was also included in the list of projects.

With files from Bill Fortier