A student transportation investment by Alberta’s government will help more students take the bus.
Through Budget 2023, a total of $414 million over three years will support transportation improvements and keep education affordable and accessible.
This is in response to feedback from parents, school authorities and others in addressing rural ride times, inflationary pressures and rising costs for parents.
“More than 300,000 students and their families rely on student transportation services every school day and we take that responsibility seriously,” said Minister of Education and Red Deer-North MLA Adriana LaGrange.
“With the changes we are making and our increased investment through Budget 2023, the student transportation system will be safer to students, more affordable for families, and provide enhanced funding for our school authority partners.”
Saving families money
About 80,000 additional students will be eligible for provincial transportation funding through new regulatory changes. This equates to more than $20 million in savings for parents across the province.
47,000 of those students are currently paying a fee to use bus services and will become eligible for provincial support.
Eligibility distance lowered
Starting Sept. 1, 2024, Grade 1-6 students living a minimum of one kilometre away from their designated school will be eligible for government-funded busing services. Those in Grade 7-12 must live two kilometres away, measured by the shortest driving route.
Currently, students must live at least 2.4 kilometres from their school.
Lowering the distance eligibility will enable almost 33,000 more students to get to school safely on a school bus. About 20,000 of those students will be able to use buses already in service and not at capacity, especially in rural areas.
Approximately 250 additional bus routes will be needed to accommodate the remaining 13,000 students in both urban and rural areas.
School authorities may choose to implement these changes sooner, in the 2023-24 school year, with the investment outlined in Budget 2023.
Cost and inflationary pressures
Student transportation funding will also address cost and inflationary pressures for schools and bus contractors.
Funding will be provided for an additional 100 bus routes for rural students, which will shorten ride times by nine per cent. Driver training funding will increase and support 1,250 drivers, including 350 new drivers and increase the driver work force by six per cent.
The Fuel Price Contingency Program will also continue into 2023-24. The program helps schools address high fuel costs and protect bus services. This saved school authorities $8.5 million in the 2021-22 school year, $16.5 million in the 2022-23 school year, and is projected to save $23.5 million in the 2023-24 school year.
“School boards face pressures from rising costs due to inflation, fuel, wages and insurance, in addition to the challenges of recruiting, training and retaining school bus drivers,” said Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA) President Marilyn Dennis.
“ASBA is pleased to see targeted transportation funding aimed at helping to offset these challenges and looks forward to continued collaboration with the government on the implementation of the transportation framework.”
Student Transportation Task Force
Funding increases and regulatory changes build on the work of the Student Transportation Task Force.
The task force was created in May 2020 and brought together the education system, transportation industry representatives and MLAs to examine the future of student transportation in Alberta. The funding increases in Budget 2023 are part of the third and final phase of the action plan to address the task force’s recommendations.
View the original press release on the Government of Alberta website.
Red Deer-North constituents with questions, concerns or comments can reach out to the local constituency office via the form on the contact page or by phoning (403) 342–2263.
Anyone looking to send comments directly to the Minister of Education is asked to contact the Office of the Minister of Education at education.minister@gov.ab.ca or (780)427-5010.