Metro Urban Transportation Funding 2011/2012
(Calgary Public, Calgary Catholic, Edmonton Public, Edmonton Catholic)
Regular (per expected eligible passenger): $538
Parent-provided ECS. Transportation (per child with a disability/delay): $538
ECS Special (per round trip/child with a disability/delay -max. of 185 trips): $15.44
Special Transportation (per funded student based on severe profile): $2,857
*Source: Alberta Education Funding Manual 2011/2012
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On the transportation fee report, the CBE says they are getting $28.893 million on provincial transportation grants. The CBE puts 26,000 students on charter buses everyday. Another 10,000 take Calgary Transit which costs the CBE $185/student if they apply for the rebate (which only 60% do). But, let's say 100% get the transit rebate, which will cost the CBE $1.85 million. $28.893 million minus $1.85 million is $27.043 million left for the 26,000 students on charter buses, or $1040 per student. No, this number is not exact as severe special needs and ECS get more, but they are a small minority. CBE transportation has also said in an e-mail that the CBE only buses 24,000 students on charter buses, but the above calculations used 26,000 because that is what is on the CBE website. If it was 24,000 students, the province would be providing $1,127 per student. It doesn't matter what the formula is. What matters is how much we actually get per student, since "expected eligible passenger" numbers are not based on how many kids actually take the bus if you look at the funding manual.
It does matter what the formula is. I am not an expert but I do understand that it is a complex calculation that takes into consideration many factors/variables/weightings as one can see as they read through the Alberta Government’s 2011/2012 Funding Manual beginning on page 50. It is not a straight forward calculation. It is also my understanding, as part of this calculation; school boards are funded based on a “profile” not actual numbers - which can work against a board that faces the complexities of the Calgary Board of Education. These concerns are shared by other urban metro boards and after much advocacy work Alberta Education has been reviewing the Metro Urban Transportation Formula for a number of years now.
There are approximately 5,000 children who are coded Severe Special Needs in our system. If all of these students qualified for $2 857 in transportation funding, the total would be over $14M. Not an insignificant amount given the overall total of transportation funding is close to $29M. It should also be noted that many of these students would not be transported on a regular charter bus. I think the bigger question here is whether the funding reflects actual costs. Again, I would refer you to the study done by the Alberta School Boards Association, “At the breaking point: Alberta’s student transportation system.”
Thank you for verifying what I had written in that transportation funding is based on a complex formula and not on the number of bussed students.
Alberta Education was very prompt in providing me with the number of funded special needs students. It was 2502 students for a transportation funding grant of $7,148,214 in 2010-2011. The CBE has not been as transparent with their bussing numbers as I have received multiple answers from different sources within CBE transportation as to how many students actually take charter transportation everyday (everywhere from 20,000 to 26,000). Thus, my number of 26,000 from the website. Thank you for prompting me to get the actual figures for special needs students.
So, let's redo the calculation. $28.893 million in provincial transportation grants minus $1.85 million for high school rebates minus $7.15 million divided by 23500 (26000 minus 2500) students is $847/charter bus regular student. If you look at the urban transportation part of the funding manual, which is based on actual numbers of bussed students (and remember that the province does not provide any funding for transportation to schools of choice other than French), I'm not sure that we should be asking the province to review this as urban centres with a population of over 50,000 people only receive a maximum of $485/student.
Perhaps it would be better to review our transportation agreements to ensure that they are competitive. Trustee Lane stated at the last meeting that there was not enough information provided to determine whether we are competitive with other metro boards. Until that question is answered and we know what actual costs should be, we can't say that our funding is woefully inadequate. Again, it comes down to "More information needed." Between the two of us, we may be able to actually get it :)
The concluding paragraph of Alberta School Boards’ Association study, “At the breaking point: Alberta’s student transportation system,” has this to say:
Taken together, the transportation pressure points discussed and illustrated above all point to the funding shortfall in transportation services that Alberta’s school boards find themselves in. The ASBA studies to date as well as the September 2007 board transportation survey all point to overall funding shortfall pressures faced by the majority of school boards in the province as they attempt to deliver service acceptable to their communities. In response, boards have raised transportation fees by approximately 60% in the last three years and/or have borrowed from other areas of board operation to fund their transportation system. These pressures, if left unresolved, will push Alberta’s student transportation system past its breaking point.
So let’s look at the steps the CBE has taken to contain fee increases over the last five years:
1) Congregated bus stops for alternative programs
2) Jr. High students placed on transit where appropriate
3) Special needs placed on regular charter buses where appropriate
4) Coordinated school start and end times
5) Bus route reductions
6) Reduced central supports within transportation Office
7) Utilization of Transportation Fee Stabilization Reserve when available
This year, for the second year, there have been no grant increases from the province despite rising costs. Targeted funding for inflation protection has been reduced by 50% and will be eliminated completely in the next budget. The Provincial Review of the Urban Metro Boards transportation funding formula has been delayed again, no announcements expected until the 2012/2013 school year.
We can add the alignment of 10 system wide non-instructional days (PD, organizational days, appeals, parent/student/teacher conferences) to the cost saving measures outlined above.
The Transportation Fee Schedule was returned to Administration for new scenarios for funding.
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