Editor:
On Jan. 28, I attended a meeting with other parents, school trustees and school board personnel because of a recent announcement from the minister of education informing every school district in B.C. that their transportation funding will be significantly decreased.
The minister has used a "one-size-fits-all" formula (disregarding a geography to population density ratio) in determining what each district is to receive to transport students to school. The result is Delta is one of the hardest hit, left to manage a 47 per cent decrease in its transportation budget.
It is important to understand the intention of the meeting was to find ways the district could reduce transportation costs while still providing our bussed students with safe transportation. I commend everyone at the meeting for coming up with innovative ideas and supporting every student that depends on this system to get to their respective schools.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the minister and his office.
I can only imagine the hardships of the many families that this decision will impact but I am acutely aware about how this decision will affect my own daughter Rachel.
Rachel has attended school in Ladner since kindergarten and currently receives exceptional care in Grade 11 at DSS. She has an uncommon genetic disorder that has left her globally developmentally delayed and medically fragile. She has a seizure disorder, is non-verbal, cannot feed or toilet herself and has required multiple surgeries over her life, the most recent of which required a full body cast and months of therapy so she could learn to walk again.
As may be expected, she requires constant vigilance to be kept safe.
Rachel does not live with us any longer as she requires 24-hour care.
Choosing to foster our child was the hardest decision we have ever made. Although she is well taken care of and has a wonderful home now, Ladner will always be her real home.
If her bus route were cancelled, it would be extremely difficult to get her to Ladner everyday. If she had to change schools, I truly believe her safety would be compromised and our community would lose a very important member.
I ask you, as citizens of Delta as well as anyone who knows children in this community, to write to our minister of education.
Please ask him to reconsider his formula and remind him the numbers he is putting in his formula are our children. Encourage him to look into this issue with all the facts for each community considered.
Let him know that we are trying to find cost reducing solutions but compromising our children's safety or ability to attend their school is not something we can entertain.
Karan Schwartz
