The new cooperative busing agreement between the Chinook's Edge School Division and Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools has been signed but funding woes are still problematic to keep both vehicle fleets viable.
The Catholic school board formally approved the agreement, which was first announced last fall, on Feb. 22, while Chinook's Edge's board gave the green light last month. The new transportation partnership to service rural students begins in the 2016-17 school year.
The agreement calls for the two boards to work together on creating efficiencies on existing rural routes, with several being eliminated and the Catholic school board using Chinook's Edge school buses to transport the majority of its students in the Olds and Innisfail areas.
However, while the partnership is designed to arrest the growing transportation budgets of the two school boards, both are scrambling to find funding to replenish their fleets, an annual and necessary practice to keep all their vehicles in optimum working order.
“We look to utilize dollars from other budget areas in order to offset our transportation deficit,” said Dr. Paul Mason, the Catholic school board's superintendent of schools, on the challenges of finding funds for the half dozen new buses it needs for the 2016-17 school year. He said Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools' transportation budget will have a deficit this school year of between $400,000 and $500,000, which will remain the same for the 2016-17 school year.
“Unfortunately, it is an annual struggle for us to ensure it (transportation) is viable. For at least the past five years we have run deficits in our transportation budget,” said Mason. “It becomes increasingly challenging to ensure ride times are reasonable.”
In an effort to make ends meet with its beleaguered transportation budget, Mason said his school “rarely” buys new buses. Instead, the Catholic school board pursues beneficial deals in the United States to purchase “good” used vehicles for its fleet of about 70 buses, he said.
Last month at the Chinook's Edge's board meeting, senior division officials said they faced a $700,000 deficit in their 2016-17 school year transportation budget if they don't get more funding help from the provincial government to purchase seven new buses. The division's education committee was expected to address the issue on Feb. 24 and look at options to properly maintain its 76-bus fleet.
Senior officials from both boards said concerns over inadequate transportation funding have been regularly passed on to the provincial government as well as to regional MLAs.
Mason said the ongoing transportation budget deficit problem is a “regular conversation item” whenever there are meetings with provincial government officials.
”It has been for quite some time,” he said, adding more funding for its transportation needs is a “priority item” when the provincial government releases its education budgets this spring.
“I am sure the government is aware of this and we will wait for the budget even though it is a challenging economy,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mason said parents can expect to receive a communication plan about the new cooperative busing agreement with Chinook's Edge that will detail all student transportation changes for the 2016-17 school year.
“Administration has just started to work on that,” he said. “Probably right after Easter parents can expect to be informed about what this means for their children and themselves.”
"We look to utilize dollars from other budget areas in order to offset our transportation deficit."Dr. Paul Mason, superindentent
