While many school divisions are having to contend with increased costs due to the carbon levy and the elimination of school fees through Bill 1, the impact on the Evergreen Catholic Separate Regional Division (ECSRD), which oversees St. Mary School, is not as severe due to the fact that they don’t operate their own bus fleet, says board chair Gerald Bernakevitch.
As noted, the carbon levy introduced on Jan. 1 is having a significant but impact on school divisions across the province. Between added natural gas costs and the increased price of diesel, the projected impact on Pembina Hills Public School will be more than $100,000, particularly when the levy increases in 2018.
Bernakevitch noted that, as far as the carbon levy goes, “we’re only impacted as far as natural gas and maybe courier charges and stuff like that because we don’t operate any buses,” he said.
In Westlock, the agreement is with Pembina Hills, which has set its transportation fees for the 2017-2018 year back in February. The in-town transportation fee is $350 and the fee for transportation to a school of choice outside of a student’s attendance area is $450.
As for St. Mary’s heating bill, Bernakevitch said it might be an extra $10,000 to $12,000 per year, but not any more than that.
“It might not even be that high,” he said. “A lot of it will depend on fees added by contractors and stuff like that as far as the natural gas side is concerned.”
Bernakevitch acknowledged that St. Mary School is one of its older buildings and not as energy-efficient as other schools.
Still, “I don’t think that the carbon levy will have a significant impact on St. Mary School,” he said.
As for the elimination of school fees under Bill 1, Bernakevitch said that, as far as transportation goes, it only impacts fees charged to students being transported to schools more than 2.4 kilometres away from their school of choice.
Pembina Hills does not charge a fee for students being transported to their designated school.
Bernakevitch noted Pembina Hills has always been reasonable with its fees, noting that the Parkland School Division — which runs their transportation in Spruce Grove and Stony Plain — implemented an across-the-board fee increase a while ago that affected everyone.
As for the other school fees eliminated under Bill 1, there aren’t many, and the Evergreen division is receiving funding in lieu of that missing revenue from the province, he indicated.
“Let’s say in the end we’re short $10,000. Big deal, right? It’s not like there’s going to be $100,000 that we’re not going to see, which would be a teacher.”
Ironically, he had heard from a parent during a school council meeting last week that Evergreen should charge school fees anyway.
“She said, ‘We’re kind of upset that you’re not charging fees anymore,’ which I found quite ironic,” he said, noting parents understand that a certain level of expense is necessary to get their children involved in programs.
Where the elimination of school fees might have an adverse impact is if the province decides not to provide funding to school divisions to make up for the lost revenue, he said.
“There’s where you might have an adverse effect, but we haven’t heard that yet, right? And I suspect that we will get funding,” Bernakevitch said.
“I will say this: the government right now understands education needs to be funded, and they’re funding it.”
Bernakevitch said the board acknowledges that all the funding they receive ultimately comes from the taxpayers.
“We appreciate the funds we get and we’re careful with how we use them,” he said.
