High transportation costs, inflation prompts Waterloo region school board to send letter to education minister

Trustees with the Waterloo Region District School Board have passed the budget for the 2023-24 school year.

But in doing so, they were "forced to make some very difficult decisions regarding staffing and resources," chairperson Joanne Weston wrote in a letter to Ontario's Minister of Education Stephen Lecce.

The board's letter, dated June 27 and which has also been published on the school board's website, has asked Lecce to review how school boards are currently being funded and "address some of the critical gaps" the board is facing.

Among the top concerns is transportation, Weston said in an interview with CBC News.

"We haven't received enough funding for [transportation] in a number of years," Weston said. "That continues to be a pressure and there was a funding model change and we're seeing even more pressure this year."

Starting this fall, the province will change how it funds transportation. In a letter to directors of education in April, the province said the transportation services allocation will be based on:

The letter from the board said the changes are a "positive step forward" but they've also created some additional financial pressures.

"Our existing contracts with operators, which were competitively procured, have increases built-in that are tied directly to the consumer price index (5.8 per cent); the new funding model does not address the specific escalation clauses transportation consortia have built into their agreements," the letter said.

As well, the board often uses minivans or taxis for students with exceptional needs. Those are not funded under the new model.

"That's a significant pressure," Weston said.

Other areas in which the board is seeing costs go up include:

Weston says board staff and trustees worked hard to ensure the budget had minimal impact on students and classroom staff.

"But ultimately it is a shortfall," Weston said. "These are difficult times in our budget and we had to make some difficult decisions."

WRDSB isn't alone when it comes to raising concerns about funding for the upcoming school year.