ST. PAUL – During St. Paul Education's April 9 board of trustees meeting, items discussed included making adjustments to transportation fees, such as potentially increasing the bus pass fees for alternate seats, as proposed by the St. Paul Education's Transportation Department.
The alternate seat fee for single riders is being proposed to increase from $180 to $300 if registered before the cut-off, said Secretary-Treasurer Jean Champagne during the meeting.
Champagne explained that the alternate seat fee applies to situations where a student requires riding two different buses due to different drop-off locations, such as being picked up at home in the morning and dropped off at daycare in the afternoon, or in cases of joint custody where a child alternates between two households.
A similar increase is proposed to be applied to the Family Rate of the alternate seat fee, although there might be some exceptions in certain circumstances, such as in joint custody cases.
Field trip fee increases are also being proposed.
Champagne said the proposed changes are being made to reflect current economic conditions, such as rising transportation costs.
Trustee Darcy Younghans acknowledged there are increased transportation costs. "The price of fuels increased [and] maintenance has increased," he said. "We have to get some new busses, get rid of the older ones . . . so, I think this is pretty reasonable."
"These proposals are just kind of break even," added Younghans.
Champagne agreed. "We've seen significant inflation," such as in the price of buses, insurance, fuel, and labour.
The other change being proposed is shifting bus pass registrations for the next school year from August to May 1, with a proposed registration cut-off set before June 30, said Champagne.
As an incentive to encourage early registrations for alternate single-seat riders, the Transportation Department is also proposing a discount. "If you registered before June 30, the fee would [remain] $275," Champagne said. But after June 30, the fee would be the full $300 fee.
The proposed rule applies to non-alternate seat riders, both single and family rates. This means while there are no fee changes proposed to non-alternate seats, they might still be subject to increased fees if they register after June 30.
Following more discussions, the board tabled the item to discuss it more at the next meeting.
The board also briefly discussed potential changes in school fees next year. While there are practically no changes projected across all schools, the potential changes are transportation-related due to, again, increasing transportation costs.
St. Paul Education will receive increased funding from the government for the 2025-26 school year, but the increase is minimal at 2.3 per cent. The actual dollar amount will still depend on enrolment numbers, which means that if fewer students are enroling next year, the actual dollar might still be lower compared to the current school year.
In a follow-up interview with Lakeland This Week, Champagne also said the 2.3 per cent increase is not enough to keep up with inflation.
"We are getting larger increases to our Maintenance and Transportation grants - recognizing significant inflation in these areas - but our instruction funding is actually only going up 0.72 per cent," he said.
Data from Statistics Canada indicates that while prices are increasing at a slower rate, the average cost of products and services still increased by 2.4 per cent from 2023 to 2024.
Champagne also said the provincial funding structure for transportation is being adjusted, which will impact how St. Paul Education receives financial support for student transportation.
He explained the province is changing the way it funds in-town busing, revising the eligibility criteria for transportation grants. Specifically, if a student is eligible for the transportation grant, the fees for bus passes would be reduced to a base fee of $50, provided they meet certain distance criteria from the school.
For example, students in grades Kindergarten to Grade 6, must live at least 1.6 kilometres from the school to qualify, while the distance requirement for Grades 7 to 12 is two kilometres.
This means families who meet these criteria will only need to pay the base fee, which is significantly lower than the proposed increases for alternate seat fees. However, if a family does not meet the eligibility requirements for the transportation grant, they will be subject to the full fees.
