Newfoundland and Labrador can save millions on buses — if parents can stomach the changes

Students get on their designated school buses after their first day back to school. KIRSTEN PHILLIPS / FOR LIVEWIRE CALGARY

MOUNT PEARL, N.L.- Newfoundland and Labrador’s new proposal to alter start times at dozens of schools across the province could save millions in bussing fees, but only if thousands of affected families can stomach the changes.

The province’s English school board sent memos to families in June proposing altered school times for September 2027 at 37 schools. Some elementary and primary schools will move their start times earlier, while some middle and high schools will move their start times later.

The changes allow more school bus drivers to double up their workload: driving routes for two schools each morning and two schools each afternoon.

“We’re looking at a $100,000 cost per bus, per year, based on one run.” said Barry Petten, N.L.’s minister of transportation. “We can get the same — for $100,000 it can do two runs.”

Petten said the government could save about $27 million over a five-year period, that could be reinvested in other school infrastructure.

Some schools will see their starting bell ring one hour earlier at the start of the 2027-2028 school year if the changes come to fruition.

‘It would add a lot of stress on us’

Angela Beck, mom of 9-year-old son Avery Beck, said the proposal is hard to stomach for her family. Both she and her husband work multiple jobs to make ends meet yet still find time to pick Avery up from school since his French immersion program is not eligible for bussing.

“We’re lucky right now that I can pick my son up from school at the end of the day,” she explained. “If that time is bumped up to 2:00 p.m., that might not be an option for us anymore.”

The changes would force the family to spend more on after-school care or other programs — something Angela says doesn’t easily fit the family’s budget.

“That’s really going to throw a wrench in things for us.”

Angela added, the time change is likely to pose new challenges for the family, since Avery has been diagnosed with ADHD.

“Sometimes that adds a layer of struggle as well for us in the morning, you know, trying to get him up and staying on task to get ready and go out the door,” she said. “To ask us to get him up an hour earlier in the day, it would add a lot of stress on us.

In a feedback form, Angela wrote to the school district that the proposed changes would hurt her family. So did Michelle Gillespie, a mother of three, who lives a few blocks down the street in Mount Pearl, N.L.

Each of her three kids get to school a different way — the youngest is dropped off, the oldest takes a bus designed for children with special needs, and the middle child walks to school.

The arrangement is made to fit the start times everyone had this year.

“It works right now, works out perfectly,” she said. “Especially when my oldest is autistic, so things are done a certain way.”

The proposed changes would disrupt everyone’s schedule, potentially forcing the mom to be late for work every day, which isn’t viable long-term, she said.

In 2024, N.L.’s provincial government eliminated a long-standing policy prohibiting children living within one mile of a school from riding the bus.

That change cost about $10 million each year, according to information provided by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure in response to an access to information request.

Petten said there’s no cap on how much the province is willing to pay on education, but added he still believes it’s possible to “spend it wisely and still get the same outcomes.”

Dozens of schools in Calgary saw similar changes during the current school year as start times were changed across the school board to accommodate new students’ bus needs.

The proposal to change start times in N.L. is not yet set in stone. N.L. schools said it wants to hear from parents and staff about how the proposed changes would affect them, in a feedback form that’s open until June 14.