Increases to a number of school fees for families were approved by the Board of Chinook’s Edge School Division this week.
Shawn Russell, Associate Superintendent of Corporate Services, notes that the Board always tries to avoid any type of fee or increase to a fee. He says “but given the inflationary costs that we are faced with and now with the increases potential or that we are already seeing some area in regards to tariffs. We have to look at how we fund the programs that require some of these supplies that we are seeing the inflationary increase in.”
When it comes to transportation, Russell says the ongoing costs associated with operating and running as many bus routes as they do across the school division that hike in the fees are necessary just to maintain the level of service they are currently providing. He says “the costs for everything from parts for our buses to the actual cost of our buses themselves has increased, you know, almost by 25 per cent in the past year. We have to buy each year eight buses to keep our fleet of buses evergreen at a reasonable age – that’s a big increase in terms of the cost to the school division.”
Increases in fees will be felt in areas including transportation, plus Career and Technology Studies classes, a 5 credit foods class, as well as for construction, fabrication and mechanics.
More details are available on the Chinook’s Edge website cesd73.ca.
