While ridership has continued to climb, Northern Lights Public Schools (NLPS) has seen a significant decrease in funding through provincial transportation funding grants.
Matt Richter, director of transportation, told the NLPS board of trustees at their regular meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 16, there’s a substantial amount of students the school division doesn’t receive funding for.
Over 5,500 students were included in their grant applications, 3,797 in rural and 1,724 in urban. Of the 4,295 riding the bus, 1,021 weren’t covered because they fell under the 2.4-kilometre radius zone from schools.
Although NLPS saw a ridership increase of 1.5 per cent over the last seven years, there has been a decrease in transportation funding of over $400,000. Currently, 24 per cent of the students who ride the bus are unfunded.
“There was some discussion that (the provincial government) were perhaps going to change the 2.4-kilometre radius area, but it doesn’t look like that’s happening,” explained Nicole Garner, communications officer for NLPS.
Seven years ago, the division went out on their own after sharing transportation with the Lakeland Catholic School District (LCSD), and the number of unfunded students has grown since.
“When you’re increasing your ridership, but don’t have any dollars attached, you can see how that’s going to become a big problem,” expressed NLPS board chair Arlene Hyrnyk.
An aggravating issue the board has seen with the 2.4-kilometre radius is it’s not a straight line from a school.
“It doesn’t take into account things like if you need to cross railroad tracks, or a busy highway... or if there’s even sidewalks for kids to walk on between houses... Certainly there’s a need (for transportation) because of some of these factors that we wouldn’t want some of our students, particularly our elementary students, having to walk to school in some of these things that they’d have to deal with on the way to school,” detailed Garner. “That’s part of the reason why we offer transportation. It’s just frustrating that we can’t get more funding from the province.”
Another factor raising concerns are the rising demands being placed on bus drivers.
As of March 1 in Alberta, all Class 1 and Class 2 bus drivers are required to complete Mandatory Entry Level Training. The program includes up to 85 hours of lecture and driving time for Class 2 license candidates. Drivers starting after March 1 will be required to have their “S” endorsement prior to working. Currently, drivers had up to a year to get it.
As a result, Ritchter noted this will have an impact on their contractor numbers.
“New bus operator entry will be a big issue. Brand new bus drivers that want to get into the industry, it’s going to take quite a while for them to get in,” he explained.
The board will have the option to hire their own trainers and examiners, which may reduce the price of training.
With little known about the costs of these new requirements, the lack of funding for transportation is taking its toll.
“The new restrictions on new drivers coming in, (in addition to) higher bus cost replacements, it’s going to be problematic for contractors over the years, and that’s a concern,” expressed Richter.
During his presentation, he noted some contractors are choosing to hang up their keys sooner rather than later.
“I think I heard from a couple that retirement is fast tracked... For moms and pops, it’s fine and dandy, but they need a spare and is a spare going to go to school for two weeks at their cost to get this done? There’s no costs given to us by Alberta Transportation on anything, on the candidate going to school, how much the course would be, it goes on and on,” Richter detailed.
Garner said, “Under funding for transportation has been a concern for this board for many years. It’s chronically underfunded, and with the addition of the Mandatory Entry Level Training and “S” endorsement training requirements, it’s just making things more difficult. It’s an added expense, and added time with, so far, no announcement (from the government) that we’ll get any funding to help offset the cost.”
