The Aspen View School Board (AVPS) is looking for public input on the implementation of transportation fees.
The issue was presented to trustees, along with a variety of potential fee structures, at the board of trustees meeting on Feb. 24. However, the board made no decision on what fees they would implement, but determined they would like to have some feedback first.
Ever since the fuel subsidy grant was pulled by the provincial government in April 2013, the transportation portion of the board’s budget has been operating at a $350,000 deficit. And this deficit doesn’t look to be going anywhere.
“Obviously, we’re in a situation where we know the budget isn’t going up next year. We don’t know how much it’s going down, but we know it’s not going up,” said AVPS superintendent Mark Francis.
“(The) deficit is not going to be shrinking, based on the funding and the uncertainty we have around provincial budgets. We may well be in a further reduction scenario.”
The question Aspen View must answer is from where the money is going to come. During the past year, the board has taken money from the only place where it isn’t being slashed – the instructional grant.
“We’re taking $350,000 out of the instructional grant -— which pays for teachers, which pays for educational assistance, which pays for books for kids — to fund transportation,” said Francis.
If the transportation deficit continues to rise – like they’ve anticipated – this may no longer be an option.
“At the end of the day, before we take anything away from a child, before we lose educational assistants or teachers, we have to look at every possible way to cut money; and if there’s other ways to increase money, then we need to do it,” he stated.
This is where transportation fees come in. According to Francis, these fees aren’t uncommon in Alberta.
“Sturgeon (school division) just implemented one last year. The City of Edmonton and Calgary, they’ve had transportation fees forever and they’re a lot more than ours,” explained Francis. “We have school divisions that charge $300, $400 for transportation fees.”
Francis is quick to point out that there are not any plans to have transportation fees quite that large. In fact, they aren’t planning on entirely getting rid of the deficit – at least not in one year.
“We’re trying to lessen its impact. At this point, we’re looking at an option where maybe we generate around $100,000, so that it’s one less teacher that may need to come out of the classes.”
That being said, there is one other option — cutting services — but, really the division can only go so far in the services that can be cut.
“I mean, the only way to do it is we run less buses over the same number of kilometres, which means kids are getting on the bus at quarter to seven instead of quarter after seven,” Francis said. “Which of course, we can only cut services so much before it becomes restrictive. I couldn’t justify putting a kindergarten kid on a bus at quarter to seven.”
The school board is asking for feedback from the public regarding this matter and how to implement the fees.
“Do you charge everyone? Do you only charge people that are within a certain distance of the school?” said Francis.
“There’s all sorts of different fees that you can look at. So, we’re collecting information and that will be one that the board will look long and hard at before they make a decision.”
