Rocky View Schools has approved a $280 bus fee for students who live less than 2.4 kilometres from their school.
Earlier this year, the provincial government passed the Act to Reduce School Fees, which wiped out bus fees for students who live farther than 2.4 kilometres from their schools. The move created a shortfall for RVS, which then proposed a $325 per student fee for those who live closer than 2.4 kilometres in order to fill the financial gap.
That number was submitted to Minister of Education David Eggen in June for approval, and earlier this month Eggen replied, setting a maximum per student fee of $280.
This morning’s special meeting confirmed the 2017-18 transportation fees of $280 per student in Rocky View Schools, with a maximum per family cap of $560.
The annual fee applies to resident students who live less than 2.4 km from their designated school, students travelling to a non-designated school, and non-resident students coming to a school within the division.
The loss of transportation fees from those students farther than 2.4 kilometres away, coupled with the new $45 difference per student to $280 from $325, wipes out RVS’s $722,842 transportation reserve and still leaves the division with a projected shortfall of about $67,000.
Trustees will meet again in the coming weeks to decide where and how they will make up the funding.
This morning, trustees voted unanimously in favour of the new fee structure – but not before each expressed disappointment in the government’s decision.
“I think you can feel a lot of the angst that we are under … We will strip down our reserves to nothing – and that’s always a precarious place to be,” said Ward 3 trustee Sylvia Eggerer, who represents Airdrie schools. “It’s just a really poor decision all the way around.”
“Boards of trustees have a whole lot of responsibility, but not a lot of authority … that’s the piece that, quite frankly, angers me,” said chair Colleen Munro.
