Skip to content

School starts without buses, but it's not for lack of trying

There's only six more sleeps until school starts, and for many kids, just getting there will be a new challenge. In April, the Delta school board had little choice but to cancel buses for children on safety and walk limit routes.

There's only six more sleeps until school starts, and for many kids, just getting there will be a new challenge.

In April, the Delta school board had little choice but to cancel buses for children on safety and walk limit routes. The Ministry of Education had re-distributed the transportation budget, and Delta was a big loser in the new formula. By my calculation, we received the second largest percentage decrease in the province, a reduction of 47 per cent over three years.

It seems we lost out because Delta falls through the cracks on the universal funding formula that was used. We have a population larger than the formula allows, except that our population is in three distinct areas. We are too close to Vancouver to be considered rural, even though Victoria gets rural funding. As irrational as these issues seemed, the ministry refused to meet with our board to discuss the change.

During the provincial election, I asked the candidates what they were willing to do to help get this resolved. They couldn't provide a lot of specifics during the campaign, so I wasn't holding out a lot of hope.

The Monday after Peter Fassbender was named education minister, he received an email from parents in Delta. And another. And another. And another. Our MLAs, trustees and Coun. Bruce McDonald were copied on all of them. I don't know the final total, but close to 100 emails were sent.

And then things started to happen.

Vicki Huntington met with ministry staff and asked some direct, specific questions. She followed that up with a question in the legislature to Fassbender. His response was recognition of a problem with Delta and a few other districts, and that a revisit to the formula was warranted.

Scott Hamilton was able to orchestrate the meeting with ministry staff and our board members that had eluded us for nearly a year.

McDonald raised the issue during a recent Delta council meeting as a member of the council/school board liaison committee. Even though he didn't win his seat, he's still looking for solutions.

In April, our board was told there would be no change to the formula and no prospect of a meeting. Within three months, thanks to the efforts of Huntington, Hamilton, McDonald and many parents who didn't feel Delta was being treated fairly, the technical review committee will have another look at the formula.

It's in the hands of our trustees now, to make our case this fall and, hopefully, restore some of the funding we have lost in next year's budget.

I've always felt that actions speak louder than words. They may not be on the same political team, but Huntington, Hamilton and McDonald stepped up, looked out for Delta's best interests and generated results that we weren't seeing before.

In a column I wrote last April, I asked, rather pointedly, our MLAs prove their effectiveness by getting the ministry to have a discussion with our board about the transportation budget. They have delivered, and then some.

While we won't have buses on the first day of school, it's not from lack of effort. We're not done yet, but thanks to their help, we're closer to getting this resolved.