At the January 26th board meeting, the board debated the merits of referring a motion to charge for busing to the Budget Consultation Expanded Committee of the Whole, and by a 4/3 vote sent it to the committee. This debate took place from 9:26pm to 9:56pm.

Some key points:

• They have not implemented busing fees, simply referred to to another committee to consider.
• The Budget Consultation Expanded Committee of the Whole typically includes board members, senior admin, and two representatives from each partner group. DPAC is a partner group, and would plan to attend these committee meetings. These appear to currently be planned for April.
• The board also discussed public consultation on this matter, and with the budget in general. It is unclear what this may look like.
• Board members were not generally in favour of implementing busing fees (this was very clear in the discussion). They were not pleased about possibly downloading additional costs onto families.
• Board members were concerned about the administrative savings that the provincial government is requiring districts to find and submit.  At this point, it is unclear what cuts or other fees might replace the $263K this fee would be anticipated to bring in.
• It was also noted that the Ministry of Education is very clear that they don’t pay for transportation. There were comments that they would like to see more data – student location, costs, how much the district is subsidizing parents, how many students do not / can not take the bus.

DPAC will continue to keep parents informed on this matter.

More information: https://sd57dpac.ca/2016/01/district-to-consider-charging-for-busing/