Fuel grant drives budget surplus

But Catholic board can’t cut kids’ travel times

The city’s Catholic school board ended the fiscal year with a $750,000 transportation surplus, but driver shortages could dampen hopes the extra money can be used to cut travel times for children.

An unanticipated fuel grant from the province left the Calgary Catholic School District with more money than the $12.4 million it spent on transportation last school year.

The surplus also suggests that parents ultimately paid significantly more in fees than necessary, according to the board’s recently released 2011-2012 financial statement. The $215 bus fee brought in nearly $1.1 million, but the fee was set before the school board learned of the fuel grant infusion.

The board won’t rule out a cut in fees next school year but first wants to try to put the extra money into more routes and ease long bus rides. In some areas without a community school, regular program children are on the bus up to 56 minutes each direction.

“We’ll be looking at exhausting that (surplus) over this year and next year. As long as we can get drivers and buses, we’ll be able to do it,” said John Deausy, chief financial officer of the Calgary school board.

But getting more drivers is the main stumbling block. In recent weeks an increasing number have been calling in sick, exacerbating a shortage.

The city’s two major school boards have warned parents that some buses are facing delays of up to an hour (in the case of the Catholic district) and 45 minutes (in the case of the Calgary Board of Education).

Both bus companies, First Student Canada and Southland Transportation Ltd., have been on recruiting blitzes to fill the gaps. Given the situation, First Student says it can’t commit to increasing the number of routes.

“There’s no point splitting a route, making it shorter, if the bus is always going to be late and you know that going right into it,” said Mark Hodson, First Student’s assistant location manager.

Southland spokeswoman Natasha Gleiser said the company has a dozen routes (out of hundreds) without dedicated drivers but has seen recruitment and training success in recent weeks.

“We are challenged by a driver shortage at the moment, but overall we’re a growing company,” she said.

The Catholic district and the Calgary Board of Education wound up with transportation surpluses at the end of 20112012 year. That money must be spent on transportation within two years.

The school boards received a windfall last year when the province resurrected its fuel grant program after transportation budgets, and fees, had already been set.

The fuel grant tallied $900,000 for the Catholic board. The school district tried to push it into better service, but still ended with a surplus of $745,815.

The CBE posted a $2.8-million transportation surplus last year. It won’t rule out a fee cut for parents next year but said it is banking on the money if fuel and other costs surge.

Hodson said there are 13 First Student routes in the city that have no dedicated drivers, out of roughly 400 the company serves.

Untended routes are being plugged by 15 spare drivers. The problem is that some days there are as many as eight regular drivers calling in sick.

The school districts have tried to readjust some of the routes, and some special needs drivers have moved to regular buses, with special needs children transported to class by taxi.