April 25, 2009

SD23 Board of Education makes tough decision on new budget

KELOWNA, BC: At the April 22, 2009 Board meeting, the Board of Education carefully weighed the benefits of student transportation fees in light of a projected budget shortfall of $3 million and approved a motion to proceed with some exceptions. 

Transportation funding from the Ministry of Education has been frozen at $2.4 million per year since September, 2001.  As a result, each year for the past eight years, School District No. 23 has been forced to make up annual shortfalls for busing from its general operating budget.  For 2009/2010, the District would have had to take over $1 million from its general operating budget to maintain busing service levels for students. 

“This year alone, the District spent $1.2 million beyond our transportation grant to pay for busing,” says Rolli Cacchioni, Chairperson of the Board of Education.  “We are at a point where we cannot continue to shift spending away from core education programs.  Even with the implementation of the student transportation fee, we still had to make another $2.0 million in cuts to education services.  In 2009/2010, busing is expected to cost the District $3.77 million so parents will be contributing less than a third of the actual cost.”

The student transportation fee of $200 per year per rider will help the District maintain all current bus routes, but will not fund expansion.  Currently, there are just under 6,000 students riding school buses within the District on a regular basis.  All students, regardless of whether or not they are eligible or courtesy riders under the District’s Transportation Policy, will have to pay the fee with two exceptions.

The Board has agreed on two specific exemption criteria, which will be formalized in the coming weeks.  Special education students who are identified by Student Support Services as requiring a specially-equipped bus to get to and from school will be exempt from the student transportation fee.  For families for whom the fee is a financial hardship, exemptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  Details of the new fee and implementation policy will be mailed to the parents of all current bus students within a few weeks. 

The $3.0 million budget shortfall for the next school year comes on top of a $4.5 million shortfall dealt with by the Board in April 2009.  “No Board wants to make cuts to education services or to have to implement such fees” stated Cacchioni.  “Unfortunately the Board had limited options available to them and worked hard to preserve key education programs for all students.”

Approved by the Superintendent and the Chairperson of the Board of Education on April 25, 2009

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For comments, please contact:

Rolli Cacchioni, Chairperson of the Board of Education, (250) 765-3419

Mike Roberts, Superintendent of Schools (250) 860-8888

For background information, please contact Lisa Harrison lharriso@sd23.bc.ca or 470-3284.