Parents of public-school children must pay $20 a month to have them bused to school this fall – with some exceptions.
Central Okanagan school trustees Wednesday night approved a $163 million operating budget that requires a $3-million clawback from this year‘s level of spending. To make up part of the shortfall, each child who takes the bus will be on the hook for $200.
Trustees agreed that special-needs children in wheelchairs will be exempt from the fees. The district will draft a fee structure by May that could also reduce the per-child rate for large families and exempt those unable to pay.
Schools Supt. Mike Roberts cautioned the board it will have to make other cuts to schools if the user-pay system fails to produce the $1 million it‘s designed to generate.
Staff and children will notice the other $2 million worth of cuts next year. Several non-enrolling teachers like librarians, counsellors and prep teachers will be cut from high schools, and those in other schools will see their hours cut back. No teacher-on-call will fill in for non-enrolling teachers who are sick, unless they‘re absent for six consecutive days or more.
Other cuts will reduce staff and equipment at the Hollywood Road Education Services and from district career programs.
All department budgets will shrink by one per cent.
The bus fees, however, sparked the most discussion. The board voted to make user-pay a one-year trial, but seemed resigned to continuing cuts over the following three years.
“How much do we continue to chop away at the core business we‘re doing?” said chairman Rolli Caccionni. “This has to become a topic of this May 12 election. … Talk to the MLAs elected and the minister of education.”
Trustee Moyra Baxter, the only trustee to vote against the budget recommendations, was exasperated by the choices.
“Next year will be just as bad, if not worse. Do we charge $100 a month? We have to take a stand on this,” she said. “We are just caving in, and I‘m sick of it.”
The education ministry grants the district $2.4 million for busing, which costs $3.6 million in total. Trustees have lobbied the ministry for a transportation review, but Minister Shirley Bond has only said boards can charge user fees for busing if they like.
Teachers organized a small rally outside the board office before the meeting. Tom Potts, president of the local teachers union, said the government is undermining confidence in public education by underfunding it.
He criticized Bond for boasting public schools receive more government funding than ever when it hasn‘t kept pace with inflation and higher costs.
“(It) is an insult to hard-working citizens who know exactly how difficult it is to provide for their families when their salary increases fail to keep pace with the increasing costs of family life,” Potts told 30 supporters.
NDP candidates Tish Lakes (Westside-Kelowna) and Matthew Reed (Kelowna-Lake Country) attended the rally. Their party proposes long-term funding for school districts and larger deficits over three years to stimulate the economy, said Lakes. Top of Page
