Rocky View School Division rolls back exemption on school bus fees

CALGARY – As school boards throughout Alberta are preparing their budgets to handle the recent cuts from the UCP government, one district says it will implement a fee for all students signed up for bus service among other changes.

In a letter sent to parents of students in the Rocky View School Division and obtained by CTV News, the board announced it would be installing a $308 per rider fee for students who attend their designated school and live 2.4 km or further away.

The previous NDP government announced parents of students who lived 2.4 km or further from their designated school would not be required to pay anything for their children to ride the bus to school.

Shortly after the UCP government was elected, it repealed that rule, paving the way for boards to implement additional school bus fees as needed.

• Government rolling back rules that prevented school boards from charging bus fees

Following the release of the UCP budget earlier this year, Rocky View Schools identified a $10 million shortfall that it would need to come up with in order to balance their finances for the 2019/2020 school year.

School administrators conducted a thorough review of their finances to discover efficiencies and other ways to cut costs.

The school board also announced it would recommend a budget that includes a reduction in central reserves ($4.325 million) and school reserves ($1 million).

Education Centre budgets would also be cut by $1.529 million and school budgets reduced by S1.753 million.

Of those cuts to school budgets, the Board said it would request school administrators to reduce their budgets by $40 per student (generating an estimated $1 million) and cover the remaining $753 million from funding held back in the fall in anticipation of cuts.

"We are confident school administrators will be able to achieve this budget reduction with minimal impact to students," the letter reads.

RVS says it will reach out to families impacted by the additional school bus fee and provide them with more information later this month.

There is no information on when the fees will be added.

All of the changes will need to be approved when administrators will meet to discuss the budget on Nov. 28.