Aspen View Public Schools (AVPS) will be implementing a transportation fee in the new school year – although the actual amount has yet to be determined.
The idea of a transportation fee was introduced during a board meeting a few months ago.
With all its funding cuts, AVPS is running a $450,000 transportation deficit. The initial hope was to decrease that by 30 per cent with the fees.
That may not be an option anymore.
“Despite what the budget’s going to be next year, we’ve had a budget with a deficit for a number of years now,” said trustee Trevor Yeaman at the board’s regular meeting last Thursday.
“Obviously, we can’t continue to absorb the transportation fees and thankfully we have had reserves to do so. But, in lieu of what is transpiring in Alberta and our government and everything else, I think obviously we need to collect more than 30 per cent.”
When the provincial budget came out in March, the education ministry told school boards they needed to ask permission to use their reserves. As such, AVPS can’t use their reserve funds to keep on top of their transportation costs.
“When we first talked about transportation fees, we talked about baby steps,” trustee Candy Nikipelo said. “We wanted to ease that in. I think, as a school division, we might not be able to take those baby steps anymore.
“The reality is the budget is not what we had planned on.”
The question, then, was how much?
Yeaman suggested a fee to all the students in the district – including the ones who don’t take the bus.
“All parents are using the school buses, whether they are for field trips, whether they are bussing students to and from school. Maybe having that fee right across the division to all parents,” he said.
“If we want to be viable, if we want to keep teachers in the classroom, if we want to provide the very best education, we need to make sure that we’re recovering those costs as much as possible.”
The board decided against this idea, however, because students are already paying to go on field trips and it would be unenforceable.
Unlike other school fees, there will be definite consequences if a student’s parents don’t pay the transportation fee. In essence, if they don’t pay, their kids don’t get on the bus.
“Under the act, we are obligated to provide transportation, but we are also allowed to charge a fee for that,” said superintendent Mark Francis.
“In Edmonton Public or Edmonton Catholic, if you do not buy a bus pass at $40 a month, you do not get on the bus, yellow or otherwise.”
However, there will be exceptions for parents who sign a waiver stating they can’t afford the fee.
“Taking away the right to bussing for a family that can’t afford it, is taking away the right to education,” said Francis.
The actual fee amount will be decided after the 2015-2016 budget, during which time the school bus routes will also be audited to find more efficiencies.
“The other piece of that is can we find efficiencies in our current operations across to reduce that overall expenditure, and then what number are we at?” said Francis.
“So, I think it’s a two-part. One is moving what we’re spending down, moving what we’re collecting up.”
