Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This past June 26^th, the last day of school, students were sent home with a letter from the Hay River District Education Authority stating that, starting September 9, 2019, students who want to ride the bus to school will need to purchase a bus pass. The estimated cost: $300 to $375 per student. As far as I know, there has never been any bus fees charged in Hay River up until this point.

This has upset a number of people in the community, and understandably so. No one wants to pay yet another fee. Some people didn't appreciate the timing of the letter, and some people were confused and angry because the letter raised more questions than it answered.

However, Mr. Speaker, beyond all of that, people were upset because they feared that this could negatively impact on children's attendance at school, and for good reason. If you live on Vale Island, you have between 5 and 11 kilometres to get to school. If you live in Delancey Estates, it's 10 or 11 kilometres. If you live in Paradise Gardens, it's 25 kilometres. Given those distances and the fact that it is winter for most of the school year, it is essential that students have the option to take a bus to and from school. Unfortunately, the DEA sees its fee as the only way to continue providing busing. The alternative, and I know it was considered, was to discontinue busing altogether, but luckily, that didn't happen.

The reason for the shortfall is that the DEA only receives enough funding to cover half the cost of providing buses. This means that, year after year, they've had to dip into funding meant to provide other educational services. It also means they haven't been able to put anything aside to save up to buy new buses to replace their aging fleet, which likely only have another year of serviceable life.

Now, someone stated that it's okay to charge for busing. After all, they charge right here in Yellowknife. I mean, in many cities across Canada, in fact. However, Mr. Speaker, we can't continually adjust our expectations based on the lowest standard. We need to decide what our priorities are. My priorities and the priorities of many of my constituents whom I have heard from are to lower barriers to education and increase the chances of success for our children.

Mr. Speaker, the funding shortfall isn't an enormous amount of money, but when divided up among a small number of families, it can become a roadblock for accessing education. I will have some questions for the Minister of Education about how we can solve this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.