School boards now need Minister approval before acquiring land, with a 90-day decision deadline

Plain-language summary · AI-assisted · not legal advice

The rules for how school boards acquire real property have been updated to require boards to obtain Minister approval before proceeding with any proposed land acquisition or expropriation application. The Minister must approve or refuse a board's request within 90 days of submission, with the option to extend that period by an additional 30 days. For acquisitions involving property purchased from another school board, the Minister's decision timeline is tied to a separate approval process rather than the standard 90-day clock. The earlier notice-and-wait rules, under which boards gave advance notice and then paused for a set period before proceeding, have been removed and replaced with this formal approval requirement. Boards planning to acquire a school site for pupil accommodation still need to notify the Minister when negotiations begin, provide requested information, and obtain approval before signing an agreement; the special notice provision that previously applied in that scenario has been revoked. School boards and their legal and administrative teams should review their land acquisition processes to reflect the new approval-first requirement.

Who this affects: school boards · school board administrators · school board legal counsel · provincial Ministry of Education