School bus users could see a fee increase in the Central Okanagan.
Image Credit: Contributed
February 13, 2020 - 10:27 AM
The Central Okanagan school district is proposing a transportation fee increase to $300 per student for the next school year.
Currently, the yearly bus fee is $225 per student but original recommendations from the Transportation Steering Committee outlined an increase to $450 per student.
After a lengthy discussion during a regular meeting Feb. 12, the Board of Education settled on an increase of $300 per student annually, said board chair Moyra Baxter.
Even with the fee increase, $3.1 million is still coming out of the district’s operating budget, she said.
“And that is not going to be reduced to any great extent with this new fee structure because it was expected to go up next year due to inflation,” she said. “We’re still taking money out of our operating budget to subsidize transportation.”
If approved during the board’s next public meeting, transportation registration for the 2020/2021 school year will open March 2 to May 31.
The steering committee also recommended changes to the district’s eligibility limits based on distance from the student's catchment school. Currently, elementary school students who live four kilometres away and middle and high school students who live 4.8 km away are eligible for transportation.
The board proposed lowering the walking limit to three km for elementary school, four km for middle school and 4.8 km for secondary school students, Baxter said.
The board will revisit and make a final decision during the next public meeting Feb. 26.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Carli Berry or call 250-864-7494 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2020