Fees for student transportation in the Chinook’s Edge School Division will remain unchanged in the 2018-19 school year after trustees voted on the matter during last week’s board meeting.
“We are optimistic that there will be some changes in how the government is funding and supporting rural transportation,” said superintendent Kurt Sacher. “So the board didn’t want to add a fee right away when there may be a change to the funding envelope.
“They (trustees) still remain very concerned about the deficit in transportation in the neighbourhood of $700,000 (per year). That remains a major concern.”
A review of transportation fees and regulations is currently underway at the provincial level, with results expected to be released in the fall, he said.
The division has been advocating with the government for many months to seek an increase in transportation funding, he said.
“Essentially you end up using dollars that ought to be spent in the area of instruction,” he said. “Across a large jurisdiction you try to minimize the impact, but it is essentially money that could be used in classrooms.
“With the lack of support and understanding for rural transportation and the costs associated, we end up having to subsidize it with instructional dollars and the board is very concerned about that.”
Increasing bus ride times is not an option, he said.
“Our kids are riding on the bus more than we are comfortable as it is,” he said. “We can’t make ride times longer to save money. We are really at a point where we need government to move."
