In a year that saw a historic provincewide teachers’ strike, books get banned from school libraries and debates around classroom complexity, another issue has Alberta parents voicing concerns about the education system.

Next school year, the Wild Rose School Division (WRSD) in central Alberta will join the 20 other school districts in the province already charging bus fees for transporting students. Some parents say they worry rural families are being disproportionately impacted by the trend.   

The division’s students could see fees of up to $600 per year to take the bus to school, as the WRSD announced a plan to impose fees for transportation via a Jan. 30 email to parents.

It’s a significant change for parents of students who attend the division’s schools. Of the WRSD’s approximately 4,400 current students, 3,314 are registered for bus service, the division says on its website.

The maximum proposed fee for eligible K–6 students who live at least 1.6 kilometres from their designated school is $300 a year. Those in grades 7–12 are eligible for the same fee if they live at least two kilometres from their designated school. 

The proposed fees would also charge a maximum of $600 per year to students who live closer to school than the distance thresholds required for the lower fees, or to students who live outside the school district. 

“My six-year-old daughter cannot walk 20 kilometres to school on the highway in -20 C to get there,” said Dan Burch, a parent who lives in Brazeau County, which is part of the division.

“We don’t have an option.” 

Charging busing fees is part of a larger trend in Alberta. In her email to parents in January,  WRSD Supt. Jodie Mattia said provincial funding has not kept up with the rising cost of maintaining and updating the bus fleet, fuel and insurance.

CBC News reached out to the WRSD to try to arrange an interview with Mattia but was told she was unavailable. The school division has created an FAQ section about the new fees on its website. It notes the division is one of the last in the area to implement them. 

CBC News compiled information about bus fees from Alberta’s 59 Catholic and public school divisions. It found that during the 2025-26 school year, 39 did not charge fees, and those that did tended to be in or around city centres.

Burch said he thinks charging a fee in rural areas is unfair, noting “there’s a lot more options in a city scenario than there is in the country.”

He said with one more child soon entering the school system and the rising cost of living, he’s considering homeschooling or driving his children to avoid fees.

Burch said he believes having a child take a bus to school isn’t a luxury but rather a necessity.

“You cannot educate and teach that child until it shows up to school,” he said.

Burch reached out to Premier Danielle Smith, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides and Drayton Valley-Devon MLA Andrew Boitchenko to raise his concerns about the proposed fees.

A post on the WRSD website says board members “deeply understand” financial pressures on families, and that the division is only implementing the fees next year to allow parents time for planning. The post adds that the division is looking at ways to minimize the impact, such as offering flexible payment plan options or a multi-child discount.

Increasing costs

The WRSD’s Jan. 30 email to parents said that up until the 2024-25 school year, the division’s transportation department was able to operate within the funding it receives from the Alberta government, and that past regulations prohibited it from charging fees. The WRSD said its overall budget is 95 per cent funded by the province.

However, the school division said that in the 2024-25 school year, its transportation department experienced a deficit of $1.04 million, a shortfall that it projects will grow by another $20,000 this year.

Based on student counts from September 2025, the new busing fees could generate $1 million or more.

Northern Lights Public Schools and the Foothills School Division implemented busing fees beginning September 2025. Foothills’ website states its transportation costs have increased by $1.5 million since 2020.

University of Alberta education policy professor Darryl Hunter said the problem is a combination of rising costs and enrolment.

“Population growth through both interprovincial migration and international migration has been quite dramatic in Alberta, so that’s put pressure on the education system,” he said.

Hunter said he believes it’s been difficult for the provincial government to keep up. However, he noted Alberta’s government is running a deficit but school boards cannot.

“Provincial expenditure is not covering the actual cost of busing,” he said. “School boards are turning to fees to cover the cost and that disproportionately affects rural Alberta.”

Provincial pay problem

A post on the WRSD website states the school board wrote two letters to Nicolaides last spring, “clearly outlining the shortfalls in rural transportation funding.”

“The reply acknowledged that there are significant challenges in rural transportation but did not address the issue with additional funds,”  the post reads.

In a statement to CBC News, Garrett Koehler, senior press secretary for Nicolaides’ office, wrote that the WRSD has “received funding increases for transportation since 2022 and they will receive $6.26 million in transportation funding in 2025-26 — despite declining enrolment.”

That reduction is around 64 people, according to the WRSD.

“It should be noted that as of August 2025, the Wild Rose School Division had $2.93 million in operating reserves that may be used to address short-term costs while maintaining student transportation services,” added Koehler. 

The WRSD said its 2024-25 deficit was covered by now-depleted transportation reserves, and that the projected deficit for 2025-26 will be covered using funds intended for classrooms and instruction.

“Deficits moving forward will have a direct impact on student learning from classroom size and instruction to the supports available to all students and significantly increasing bus ride times,” a post on the school division’s website reads.

“The fact that the school board is being pushed to charge the public is deplorable, despicable, unsettling, heart-wrenching,” said Burch. “I don’t believe the public should be picking up the tab and I want to see that bill go away.

“I want the provincial government to step up and write a check for the $1-million deficit [in] this current budget [that the WRSD] is looking at.”