Rocky View Schools bus changes to save $1 million
Adjusted bell times, new pickup rules approved by trustees
Facing a $1-million transportation budget shortfall, Rocky View trustees voted Thursday to change how students get to and from school, leaving at least one parent worried about the safety of her children.
After months of consultations, the board will balance the budget by picking up urban students to fill rural buses and refraining from entering rural cul-de-sacs unless the length exceeds 800 metres — changes that will save $300,000.
Another $750,000 in savings would come from adjusting school bell times to accommodate more double runs while maintaining early dismissal on Fridays.
“I think this has long-term impact for us,” said Todd Brand, board chair for Rocky View Schools. “This should have an ongoing $1-million per year saving. I’m pleased with the decision we made.”
The changes were passed 6-2 following a heated debate.
Since 2008, transportation costs for the school division have risen by almost 18 per cent, while grant revenues increased 1.27 per cent.
The board needed to account for a $360,000 deficit due to Alberta’s carbon levy and a transportation fee replacement grant based on school counts from 2015-16. The counts penalized the board because of the district’s rapid growth rate of nearly five per cent per year.
“It has been a difficult process and one where we weren’t looking at a happy solution no matter how it comes out,” said Brand. “We were looking at the best possible solution given some negative circumstances.”
Trustees held three public meetings and sent out two surveys asking for the public’s opinion about how to deal with the deficit.
Agnes Dallison, a rural property owner and a mother of two students attending school in Bearspaw, says she is concerned about the safety of her children given her kids would have to walk down their cul-de-sac.
“It’s a rural road — an intersection between a gravel road and a cul-de-sac — there’s no safe place for them to stand,” said Dallison, who noted wild animals frequent the area. “Safety is a real issue there because of the vehicular traffic and the children’s vulnerability being there in inclement weather.”
Dallison said she would have been willing to pay for her kids to be picked up at the door.
“My position all along is that I would be willing to pay a surcharge for this transportation,” she said.
The board will determine transportation fees for the 2018-19 school year during a May 3 board meeting, and Brand predicts parents who have students in RVS schools will see their new bus schedules in June.