Meanwhile, the board of the Ontario Student Transportation Authority, which manages school bus transportation for the two boards, is scheduled to meet Monday night. The meeting is not open to the public, but an update is to be released mid-week.A: OSTA was formed in January 2007, when the transportation departments of the OCDSB and the OCSB were combined to form the consortium. At that time, OSTA became an independent, non-profit organization with its own staff and operations.
OSTA also has contractual obligations and is required to provide adjustments to fuel prices. While the ministry funds yellow buses and mini-buses, it does not fund vans. That funding comes from another bucket of funding, Kyriaco told trustees. According to the Ministry of Education, funding is adjusted to reflect the market price of fuel for each school year. The new actual costs provided to the boards will be revealed later in the year.
“Above and beyond the overall increase in funding and wages, our government provided an additional $1.8 million in funding specifically to Ottawa school boards to ensure stable and reliable student transportation for local families,” Lee said. Neither of these say the province must pay for transportation — and that is in conflict with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, said Monika Ferenczy, an education consultant and assessor who argues that students should have an enshrined right in legislation to get to school.