CBE to revisit bus fee program
Calgary public school officials are revisiting the controversial new fee regime that will target parents of nearly 10,000 alternative program students with major bus rate increases next year.
The move comes a month after the Calgary Board of Education introduced its “userpay” model, a fee schedule that will see children riding the yellow bus to programs of choice pay double what their regular counterparts pay.
It’s prompted a chorus of criticism from parents of alternative program students, which is prodding public school officials to take a hard second look at what is being proposed.
While changes aren’t necessarily imminent, they will be contemplated over the coming weeks with recommendations scheduled for May 31, the last of six meetings with parents.
“We want to make sure that parents know that we are listening,” chief superintendent Naomi Johnson said Thursday.
The proposed two-tier fee system has some parents now questioning where their money goes, how much their children’s busing really costs, and whether they are subsidizing others.
And the board must try to balance the frustration of some parents who will pay more, with the financial break in line for thousands of others who will pay less.
Under the new model, fees are scheduled to jump to $430 next school year for students bused to alternative programs.
Those in regular programs will pay just $215, but all bused students will now be charged an additional lunch supervision fee.
All told, it means the parents of alternative students are slated to shell out $510 next year to have their child bused and looked after over lunch — rising to $660 in 2014-2015.
That said, others are getting a better deal under the new format. Parents of more than 23,000 children who walk to school, but stay for lunch, will be pay between $55 and $65 less for noon supervision.
The head of a parent advocacy group said he’s heartened by comments from senior officials at a parent meeting Wednesday night, adding there’s a sense the board is trying to build trust.
“They said they really realized they need to hear from parents first, a wider variety of voices,” said Robert Hurdman, who is president of the Calgary Association of Parent and School Councils.
School officials have pointed to a survey of nearly 4,000 parents that showed most in favour of busing rate hikes to programs of choice, if they cost more.
But the rubber has hit the road, and parents of children in alternative programs now have in hand the 72-per-cent bus and supervision increase they are set to pay next year.
Parents of some of those larger programs, such as French immersion and Tradition Learning Centres, have been very vocal in their opposition.
Many are not convinced transportation for their programs of choice costs dramatically more, or point out different circumstances where they have little choice to bus their children, irrelevant of what program they are in.
They also note a patchwork of service where children in some of the larger programs must gather at congregated stops, whereas students in smaller programs get picked up nearer to home.
“We’re living with a history of things that has never really been explored to the degree that we’re exploring it now,” Johnson said Thursday.
The remaining meetings are scheduled for May 14, May 22, May 23, May 28, and May 31. They are open to parents.