The Ministry of Education’s creation of the $15 million Student Transportation Fund is good news to Prince George School Board Vice Chair Tim Bennett.
“I think, first off, any additional money to the District is, of course, a positive thing. At this point, we are just in the process of now determining how we’ll be able to apply for the money and how it will be able to be used.”
The District has until September 30 to come up with a plan for how it would spent the money and submit it to the Ministry of Education. While the timeline may be tight, Bennett says it makes sense.
“September 30 is the day that our staff do the attendance count to finalize what children are actually in the schools. I think it is a bit of a tight timeline but the September 30 deadline does make sense so that it can be included in the next budget announcement.”
School budgets are announced by the Ministry in December.
For its 2016 fiscal year, the Prince George School District budgeted more than $4.77 million for student transportation services. For the upcoming year, the budget is $4.53 million. Bennett says the district debated charging its students transportation fees to help offset those expenditures.
He says he’s confident the District will make a great case for its share of funding.
“At our May board meeting, a motion was passed for the District to start looking at a review of transportation. So I think there’s work that’s going to need to be done and I know that, working with our senior staff, we’ll be able to come up with the best possible case to submit for that funding.”
School District 57 could receive more than $687,000 to put toward improving its student transportation services.
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