About 1300 students will be finding another way to get to their schools now that the CBE has shelved its yellow bus service to some institutions in an effort to save money.
The school board cancelled the service to some schools to help it balance the books and says it can no longer afford to subsidize those transportation costs from its larger budget.
A strong academic program prompted Arshdeep Bhatia to send her daughters to Sir Wilfred Laurier School and she says it was worth the half hour yellow school bus trip across town.
The CBE says it cancelled yellow bus service to Sir Wilfred Laurier and four other alternative schools to cut costs and that the province has underfunded its transportation costs for years so moving kids to transit or congregated bus stops was the best option.
“This year we've tried to narrow down and just put the money we get for transportation directly into transportation and not use money from any other pot of money, for example last year we took $13 million from classrooms,” said Joy Bowen-Eyre, CBE Trustee.
Bhatia’s daughters are 10 and 12 and will now have to board a city bus and a CTrain to get to school.
On Tuesday, Bhatia took the day off work to guide the girls through the process and says their commute has now been increased from one hour to three.
“They’re looking at them leaving home at 7:00 and getting home at maybe 5:00, 5:30 and in winter, travelling is tiring as it is, I’m really not looking forward to, I’m scared, literally scared of how kids are going to fare through that,” said Bhatia.
“The yellow bus is much easier because it came right on time and you had more company, who will protect you,” said Bhatia’s daughter, Mehek.
The government’s Bill 1, which eliminated school fees for all students and bus fees for those living 2.4 kilometres or more from their neighbourhoods, forbids schools from raising fees to keep the yellow buses in service.
CBE trustee candidates say the school board failed to advocate for schools of choice when the government passed Bill 1 saying that it was meant to put money back in the hands of many but instead took choice completely out of the hands of others.
“CBE and Minister Eggen have turned alternative programs into programs for the rich. If you cannot afford to pay $700 for busing you can’t go. If you don’t have a stay-at-home parent or a parent with flexible work, you can’t afford to go,” said CBE trustee candidate, Lisa Davis.
The Education Minister said that he’s also heard from angry parents and that he shares their concerns.
He says he has ordered an operational review of the CBE’s books to see where the provincially provided funds have been going.
The review was requested in August and the results will be available in the coming months and will be made public.
(With files from Lea Williams-Doherty)
