Families left ‘high and dry’ as Surrey slashes school bus funding

Families of children with special needs in Surrey are speaking out about cuts to school bus service they say will leave them “high and dry.”

Due to budget constraints, the Surrey School District has dramatically cut funding to school bus service, including service for kids with special needs.

Parents say more than 500 families have been told they’ll have to figure out alternative forms of transportation for the coming school year.

2:04 More families voice concerns about funding for dependants with disabilities

Marcie Lisowick, whose 14-year-old son has autism and relies on the bus program to get to a program at a school outside his neighbourhood, said she got a letter with the news in June.

“No reason given, no alternative given,” she said.

“(We’re) pretty much without transportation at this point, unless we are willing to take public transit which takes quite a while and can be difficult for Gregory being special needs as well — being in public can sometimes be a challenge.”

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Lisowick said unless the family can figure out a solution, Gregory may not be able to attend school this year.

2:17 Funding boost of $52M for Surrey schools amid overcrowding crunch

Surrey School District budget chair and Trustee Terry Allen said nobody was happy about making the cuts.

But he said the district had no choice, because it is legally obligated to balance its budget. The result was the district’s bus budget being cut from $7.5 million to $3 million.

“It breaks my heart, my job is to make sure that child gets the best possible education he can in the Surrey school system,” he said.

“And it is my hope that at the end of the day through the system we have in place those issues will be resolved.”

Allen said that school principals will have to work on a case-by-case basis to identify students who truly have no other options to get to school, and then work out an alternate solution.

2:16 Surrey School District announces cuts despite budget hike

But he said with district enrolment growing by about 2,500 students each year, and 93 per cent of the budget committed to labour costs, savings had to be found somewhere.

“If you think the Surrey School District is cutting busing for students any other reason that we just can’t afford it, you’re dead wrong,” he said.

“School districts need more money, more funding.”

Lisowick, meanwhile, is scrambling to find an alternative way to get her son to school, with classes staring in just a few weeks.

“I’m a single mom, I stay home full time because of Gregory’s special needs,” she said.

“It really does leave us high and dry.”