A group of Calgary parents is refusing to pay their busing fees, and it’s not because they can’t afford it.
They’ve started a Facebook site encouraging more people to take the province and the Calgary Board of Education to task over what fees parents should be charged.
“If the school board that is next to me isn’t charging for the busing at all, and yet I’m being charged $1,200 for my four kids, there is something wrong. There is too much disparity between the school boards within the province, of how much they are charging families,” says Orleanne Muirhead
Muirhead didn’t pay her busing fees last year, in order to send a message.
“The province has been negligent in not even looking at the issue. It’s been here for ten years. The costs of noon supervision have significantly risen for the school board. I can appreciate that with various issues that they’ve had, but I think they are looking in the wrong place for the funding of it,” adds Muirhead.
Last year in Calgary, the public board removed a maximum cap on the amount families could be charged for busing their children. It’s now $300 per child regardless of how many kids you have.
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In addition, all elementary students will now be charged a noon supervision fee that will reach $230 a year.
“It’s exceptionally frustrating, because nobody is proving to me that it is costing them $230 more for my child to stay an hour at school. It doesn’t make any sense,” says mother Katy Glendinning.
The province is now reviewing the education act to provide more clarity on what costs parents should cover.
A collection agency contacted Glendinning over her refusal to pay, but the group maintains school boards don’t have the legal right to charge noon supervision fees.
A spokesman for the Calgary Board of Education says the Board is interpreting the school act to the best of its abilities, and it is within its legal rights to charge for fees.
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