At last Thursday's (April 12) Rocky View School Board meeting, a decision was made on how to handle the one million dollar transportation budget shortfall.

RVS has been engaging with the public since February and after extensive consultation, an option was chosen and carried by a 6-2 vote.

Todd Brand, RVS Board Chair says even though 'Option 1' was not initially part of their consultation process the board felt it reflected what the public at large would best want to see. "When we took a look at the options it was very clear that one option was definitely favoured more than the other three options in terms of the bundle packages. Right from the onset, I think the board was encouraged to look at the typed in written responses that people put in as well and do they show us anything that would help us modify one of the packages...and that is exactly where we ended up."

Looking at all the bundle packages and considering the strong feedback they received from both parents and staff members they recognized removing early dismissal on Friday's from some schools was not well supported. "In terms of numbers, there was definitely a lot more people not in favour of that. So our transportation department talked to us and said it will be harder work to make this happen but we can get the savings we need but also retain the early close Friday. The key to that is to give ownership of bell setting times over to the administration rather than having individual schools responsible for working that process, then we can have a lot more control over scheduling."

Some schools throughout the division will see start and end bell times change as more double bus runs are created. "We already do some double runs in different communities but now wherever possible we are going to create those double runs and the key to making that happening is a shifting of bell times."

Brand knows adjusting bell times may not be well favoured by all families. "We like to keep things consistent and not make any changes more than we need to and that is why to do this level of change over a period of a couple of months is not something we are looking forward to but at the same time we think it's going to work and offer the opportunity for us to save money."

The changes that will affect families in terms of transportation are as follows:

       
OPTION ACTION NET SAVINGS AFFECT ON FAMILIES & COMMUNITIES        
       
1 Pick up urban students to fill rural buses $150,000.00 Longer bus ride times (approx. 15 min) for rural students from north of Cochrane and from rural Airdrie and Chestermere.        
       
2 Refrain from entering rural cul-de-sacs unless the length exceeds 800m (currently 400 m) $150,000.00 Students living in rural cul-de-sacs, predominantly in Springbank and Bearspaw, will walk further to their bus stop.        
       
3 Adjust school bell times to accommodate more double runs in all urban communities (schools start and end within a one hour window of each other ex. 8-9 am) $500,000.00 Changes in school start/finish times may cause families to modify their routines.        
       
NEW Adjust school bell times from Monday to Friday to accommodate more double runs while maintaining early dismissal Fridays. School bell times will be determined by the Superintendent to ensure maximum double runs are achieved. Changes in school start/finish times may cause families to modify their routines.        

Recognizing tough decisions needed to be made, Brand says we should eventually see funds accumulate in reserves. "We would like to build back into a reserve fund because it is not prudent management to not have any reserve fund. It's not going to be reasonable for the next year or two for us to build that fund back. Right now we're just aiming to have a balanced budget but our goal is to get back into building our reserve. So these savings will be recurring, this will be a million dollars we can save each and every year so this has long-term effects."

While some people may point the finger of blame at the creation of Bill One, the school board itself or lack of provincial funding, the reality is the transportation shortfall is multifaceted, says Brand. "We (the Board) are not responsible for the underfunding, we're not responsible for the carbon levy, we're not responsible for the shortfall in the Bill One replacement grant; what we could have done three to five years ago is we could have started implementing more negative things on parents as early as possible, such as school fees."

The board was optimistic the government would restructure the transportation budget with adequate funding as well as keep their promise that the carbon levy would not have a negative impact on school board's which has not been the case, according to Brand. "Maybe that was a false hope, maybe we shouldn't have been expecting that to happen but we were optimistic those things were going to take place."

Trying to make the best decisions on behalf of students is something the board takes seriously but unfortunately, in a case like the transportation budget, they now have to decide what will make the budget balance. "We don't feel the decisions we made were the best for students. This is something we're not comfortable with and something we hope won't have to happen in the future."

Brand was clear, the option that was carried was not because parents 'liked' it, it was one they probably hated the least. 

School bell times and the impact on transportation for families will be communicated by June 30 and the board will determine 2018/19 transportation fees at their May 3 board meeting.