Bus fees are happening immediately

The budget committee of the Rocky View School (RVS) Board of Trustees has spent many long hours trying to come up with ways to make up for a $10 million budget shortfall from the funding they received in the October Alberta budget.

At its Nov. 14 meeting, they presented their ideas.

The board says they're trying to give RVS students the best education they can afford while minimizing the impact of the shortfall on students. The board's plan calls for the use of central and school reserves, reductions of resources and the adjustment of service levels while avoiding any mid-year staff cuts.

Associate Superintendent of Business and Operations Larry Paul says school administrators should be able to achieve the budget reductions with minimal impact on students.  The new fall budget calls for school budgets to be reduced by $1.75 million.

According to Paul, school administrators will be asked to reduce their spring budgets by $40 per student which will generate $1 million towards the shortfall.  The remaining $753,000 will come from monies held back in the fall in anticipation of provincial budget cuts. 

The remainder of the money to make up the shortfall will be made up of $4.32 million from central reserves, $1 million from school reserves, and a $1.53 million reduction to the Education Centre budget. 

The board also approved the introduction of additional transportation fees to offset the loss of the government's Transportation Fee Replacement Grant.  Starting immediately, a $308 fee will be applied to all riders using bus service that weren't previously charged a transportation fee in 2019-2020. A family rate of 50 percent of the fee will be applied to the third and subsequent child of a family using the system.  

Last week, both Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie and Airdrie East MLA Angela Pitt in Airdrie East were critical of RVS and said the board was sitting on a large reserve, which should be used to make up any shortfall.  RVS Board Chair Fiona Gilbert says that is exactly what they're doing.

"We have directed administration to use upwards of $6 million to minimize the impact of this budget on students and student learning."

However, Gilbert says contrary to what some may believe, RVS does not have huge reserves on hand.

"According to Auditor General reports, school boards should have between one and five per cent of operations in its reserves, that's good, sound fiscal management and practice.  The audited financial reports for Rocky View, ending August 2018 indicate that our operation reserves are at 3,7 per cent.  From an Auditor General's perspective and a government perspective that's kind of where they should be and we have directed administration as we move into this next year that we use as much of our reserves as we possibly can while still keeping within that range."

Both MLAs also point out that RVS is receiving only 0.9 per cent less in this year's budget compared to the previous year.  Again Gilbert says that's true, but they haven't taken something into account.

"Enrollment in Rocky View Schools grew by 3.7 per cent, which is more than twice as much as the provincial average.  So while we are receiving similar amounts of money this year as last year, we have also grown by 3.7 per cent of students." 

The new fall budget will be tabled with the Board of Trustees at their next meeting scheduled for Nov. 28.

Gilbert says most of the challenge RVS and other boards are facing now is due to the fact the Alberta government didn't table their budget until nearly two months into the school year.

"That's where a lot of the challenges are coming into play," says Gilbert. "We didn't have a budget until the school year had started."

Gilbert hopes for honesty and transparency from the government in talks with school boards in preparation for next spring's provincial budget and a commitment from the government to adequately fund public education. 

"Rocky View and other school boards are being challenged by the government to find efficiencies, that's kind of their little phrase is 'find efficiencies.'  We've been doing that for years and our ability to stretch the value of a dollar, I believe is to be commended.

"What we're really being asked to do now is to prioritize what is most important in public education," she continues. "With that in mind, from a board's perspective, we look forward to engaging with parents and communities to hear what's important to them.  We do need to make some decisions moving forward and we're going to need to prioritize some of the programs and services that we currently offer.  We look forward to hearing from parents so we can continue to provide an exceptional learning experience for students in response to the needs and desires of our communities.

"The terminology around finding efficiencies.  I'm really not sure how many more efficiencies we can find.  What we're really being asked to do is prioritize," she concludes.