District surplus won’t mean improved bus service

School District 22 is projecting a budget surplus this year but it won’t mean better bus service for students .

At their budget meeting two weeks ago, the district projected a surplus of 1.4 million to 2.5 million.

The district says that $652,036 has been allocated towards improving programs and services, but not a penny of the funds will be going towards busing for students.

School district says they will have roughly $650,000 available to help improve services at @SD22Vernon next school year #vernonbc @BeachRadioNews pic.twitter.com/paNxj5RVgJ

— Tiffany Goodwein (@misstiff_94) April 11, 2019

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“The transportation changes that the board is looking at doing are changes to ongoing transportation services, surpluses can only be spent once, so once you spend the surplus it is no longer available,” said Secretary- Treasurer Sterling Olson, who argues that the surplus is not sustainable enough to fund busing.

Transportation will be handled through a separate budget process, according to the district .

This past school year the district rolled out a $300 fee for courtesy riders in order to deal with a budget shortfall.

The fee impacts students who attend special programs like French Immersion, or Montessori School , or those students who live outside of their catchment area or live within 2.4 km of their school.

The district also eliminated a few bus routes leaving some students without a bus to attend school.

The move by the district , sparked a petition by some parents, asking the district to remove the fees.

Since then the district’s transportation committee has looked into staggering bell times, and reducing the fees for courtesy riders by implementing a fee for all riders as a way to save money.

Under this proposal,  which is subject to board approval, all students who take the bus would be charged $25.00 but courtesy riders would pay an additional $175.00 in order to ride the bus.

A special public board meeting to discuss transportation is scheduled for April 17 at 6p.m. at Kalamalka Secondary.