School District 69 is in line to receive $426,341 from a new, $14.7 million fund to assist with student bus service.
Districts have until Sept. 30 to apply for the funding, Education Minister Mike Bernier announced last Wednesday. It requires districts to submit a plan on how the money will be used to “boost transportation services,” by adding new routes, improving disability access and bus stops or improving access to public transit.
But the criteria also includes “funding existing transportation services and inviting the savings into enhanced student services,” according to the ministry statement. That would make the grant effectively part of the district’s general revenue.
To qualify, school districts would have to drop fees charged to parents for school bus service.
The school bus funding formula is weighted towards districts with large rural areas. Cariboo-Chilcotin is eligible for the largest amount at $739,024, followed by Prince George at $687,663, Kamloops-Thompson at $666,817, Central Okanagan at $600,000, Coast Mountains at $557,786, North Okanagan-Shuswap at $561, 925 and Nechako Lakes at $503,247.
— Tom Fletcher/Black Press