Busing facing roadblocks: agency

The amount of provincial busing grants for most Thunder Bay-area school boards was less than what was needed for the current school year, budget figures show. Shortfalls between grant amounts and what was budgeted for busing services were experienced by three of the four area school boards. The shortfalls occurred even though the Ministry of Education said it collectively provided the boards with "an 8.5 per cent increase (in grants) since 2022-23." Nearly $19 million was provided for busing to the four Thunder Bay- area boards, including the two largest — Lakehead District School Board and Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, the ministry said. In addition to experiencing gaps between grant and budget amounts, some boards warned last month that 15 per cent of students currently able to ride a school bus may not be eligible starting in September, due to provincially-mandated distance criteria changes. Starting this fall, kindergarten students within a Thunder Bay-area busing consortium must live at least 800 metres from their school to be eligible to ride a school bus. The current cut-off is only 400 metres. For grades 9-12, the eligibility cut-off is to be increased to 3.2 km from 1.6 km. When parents were told to prepare for the changes, some residents were concerned about safety on rural routes. One Mountain Road-area resident said if students aren't eligible to be bused, there needs to be sidewalks. "I find Mountain Road very unsafe for pedestrians, especially young children," the parent wrote in a social-media post. "I myself have had some close calls." In the Thunder Bay area, busing of more than 10,000 students who attend the four main school boards is administered by the Student Transportation Services of Thunder Bay consortium. The agency receives provincial funding from the four member school boards. According to figures provided by the consortium, only one member school board received more in bus grant funding than what its budget required for the 2023-24 school year. The other three received less than their budgeted requirement. Lakehead District School Board, for example, received $7.6 million in grant funding, while its busing budget was set at just over $8 million. Busing grant amounts for the 2024-25 school year aren't yet known. Asked if the distance criteria changes are intended to save the ministry money, a ministry spokeswoman didn't respond specifically. She said busing funds distributed to 72 school boards across the province have been increased overall by $111 million since last year. "While the government provides student transportation funding to school boards, each board is responsible for making operational decisions on busing at a local level," the spokeswoman said. "This includes applying distance eligibility policies that are different and lower than the funding eligibility criteria," she added. Distances are used to determine the number of students to be funded, as well as the number of school buses needed on routes, a Lakehead District School Board backgrounder said. For the 2023-24 school year, the ministry earmarked $1.2 billion for "student transportation services," including a $90-million "transition amount." The transition amount "provides support so that no school board receives less funding compared to previous allocations, and to allow school boards and their transportation consortia and service providers to align policies and costs with the new funding framework," the ministry spokeswoman said.

Carl Clutchey, Local Journalism Initiative reporter, The Chronicle-Journal