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Increased busing fees coming for Chinook’s Edge School Division

The fees implemented and increased fees come into effect for the 2020/2021 school year
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File Photo.

Chinook’s Edge School Division has announced an increase and addition of busing fees for the 2020/2021 school year.

The changes to the bus fees are coming in response to a chronic $1.2 million deficit in the transportation budget.

Kurt Sacher, superintendent of schools for Chinook’s Edge School Division, says the transportation system costs $7.2 million, but the grant they receive is approximately $6 million.

“The board has exhausted every possible avenue for creating the most effective and efficient transportation system they can,” said Sacher. “We’re just not comfortable taking those resources out of the classroom to make up the deficit.”

According to the Chinook’s Edge School Division’s website, the board tried to find a solution through leasing buses rather than purchasing, entering a joint busing agreement with Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools and including a basic surcharge in the school registration fee for all students regardless of whether or not they ride the bus.

They also considered using instructional funding each year and transferring the responsibility to a third party transportation company.

Sacher said the board also looked at ride times as being a logical option.

“If you keep kids on the buses longer you can certainly lower your costs and have more full buses, but you end up with ride times that are just not acceptable,” explained Sacher. “We already have some students riding over an hour each way and to try and resolve the problem with ride times we would have excess ride times.”

He added the board was forced to look at cost recovery user fees starting in the fall.

A brand new fee for rural riders is being implemented at $200 a year, while in town busing students who live less than 2.4 km from school will see fees increase to $500.

The fees will be able to be paid over two instalments throughout the school year.

“Those funds will help the board resolve their deficit, it should pretty much resolve their transportation deficit so they don’t have to take money out of the classroom,” said Sacher.

Chinook’s Edge maintains a fleet of buses to support 123 routes including five routes for students with specific needs.

The school board is also put on the hook to replace buses as they age as well as determine the impact carbon tax and fluctuating fuel prices will have on the service.

Additionally, a mandatory training program requires new drivers to complete 53.5 hours of training leading to a shortage of drivers on some routes.

“We have 5,000 different riders on the bus, so if everybody chips in with a little bit of a user fee we think we can resolve the deficit without having to reduce a significant number of educational assistants or teachers or classroom resources, we just didn’t want to go in that direction,” added Sacher.

If your child is not registered to take the bus no fees will be applied to them.

Additional information regarding the bus fees can be found on the Chinook’s Edge School Division website.