Clearview’s Board of Trustees was pleased to learn this week that the provincial government will help with the rising cost of fuel.
The province announced it will reinstate the Fuel Contingency Program where the monthly average diesel price exceeds $1.25 per litre. Also, it announced the program will be enacted retroactively to March 2022 and remain in place for the 2022-23 school year.
Clearview uses about 400,000 litres of fuel (gas and diesel) each school year. Clearview’s buses travel 7,551 km. daily and close to 1.3 million km. per school year. Based on a $1.80 per litre in expected fuel pricing, the new source of funding will save approximately $225,000 per school year in Clearview.
Clearview’s budget for fuel in the 2021-22 school year was $475,000. In 2022-23 the division expects to spend an additional $200,000 for a total fuel budget of $675,000.
Without the announced additional funding, Clearview would be relying on $200,000 from instructional dollars to make up the difference. Now, with the anticipated additional funding from the Fuel Contingency Program, those dollars can instead be spent in classrooms and other priorities.
