Budget pressures mean Sooke school bus fees returning next year

The Sooke School District has just tabled next year’s budget and it comes with a shortfall in the millions.

In order for the district to balance the books, it either has to use money from provincial operating grants or find a way to generate revenue – which it has decided to do through the reinstatement of school bus fees.

“It’s not good but it also could be worse,” said Tom Davis, the incoming PAC president for the Sooke School District.

The $221-million budget has a shortfall of $2.8 million, and that has forced the district to make some hard decisions.

“I think the district has done a good job of finding ways to cut from the top and not the bottom, I guess,” said Davis.

He says the cut that will affect families the most is the reinstatement of those school bus fees, which haven't collected since 2017.

“For families that have one rider, that fee will be $300,” said Amanda Dowhy, board chair of the Sooke School District.

Dowhy says families will have instalment payment options, and the ability to apply for financial assistance. There will also be discounts for families with multiple riders.

The district says a conscious decision was made not to make any cuts in the classrooms.

“In our original list of recommendations there were reductions to our over-ratio amounts for teacher counsellors but also our (early childhood education) program,” said Dowhy.

Early childhood educators are not funded through the province. During community consultations, the board heard strongly that those positions need to be saved and that will be the case heading into next school year.

Dowhy says the cuts are being made at a higher level across the district.

“At the district office at our exempt level especially, there are some positions that are not being refilled,” said Dowhy. “Some of those sit vacant currently.”

“I have a son, he currently takes the bus part-time,” said Davis.

His son is not alone. In 2017, when fees for transportation was lifted, the district saw a 30 per cent jump in ridership, capping out this year at 4,400 students.

The Sooke School District says the cost of transportation this year cost $3.1 million. A transportation grant is provided by the province to the tune of $358,365, although that amount hasn’t increased since it was brought in back in 2017 by the then-BC Liberal government.

The district says it costs roughly $800 per year to bus a student to and from school meaning the fees will still be subsidized by the Sooke School District at $300 per student.

Davis says he is unsure if he will pay the $300 fee next year and expects many parents in a similar situation to be contemplating the same decision.

“(The Sooke School District is) expecting a drop in ridership registration because of the fee,” said the incoming PAC president. “People aren’t going to register their kids as a back-up plan anymore.”

The district says that will allow it to better tailor its routes, making sure every student needing a ride to school next year will have a spot on a school bus.