Eligibility
Alberta Education announced in Budget 2023 that eligibility for transportation will be changing. Currently students are eligible for transportation when they reside 2.4 km or greater from the school in their designated boundary.
These distances have been reduced to 1 km for kindergarten to grade 6 and 2 km for grades 7 to 12. School divisions have until September 2024 to implement the new distance requirements. The impact of these changes means many more busses on the road each and every day.
To accommodate the change in requirements, the Division's transportation provider, Southland Transportation will need to purchase buses, hire and train drivers, attend to other logistics such as more bus storage space and other resources that support the transportation system. Due to the complexity of the additional requirements and new routing required, the Division will continue to transport at 2.4 km for the 2023/2024 school year and implement the new distance requirements as required for the 2024/2025 school year.