Regular readers to this column will know that I tend to "harp" on several recurring themes: budget, transportation, and provincial issues. Well, I actually have some good news that affects all three; what a pleasant surprise!

As readers know, the transportation portion of our budget has been chronically under funded since amalgamation in 1998. Every year, we have been stealing from "Peter" to pay for "Paul" in order to allow us to transport our students...who currently have the longest allowable walking distances. Just over two years ago, the Ministry agreed to examine in detail each transportation consortium in order to determine the level of funding support, i.e., the more efficient your consortium, the more money you got. The first visit by Ministry auditors garnered us a "moderate" rating, with an increase of funding, but still about $1.3 m short of a balanced budget.

The UGDSB, along with its four partners in the consortium, undertook several initiatives to address their concerns:

* we piloted an RFP process for 25% of our routes. This resulted in a $700,000 savings for this years budget, alone. We have been given permission to now use the RFP process for all our routes starting next year.

* we convinced the auditors that our route planning software was far superior to theirs, due to the rural/urban mix of our board, and

* the consortium became an independent legal entity with representation from all five boards.

Therefore, in it's report to the Board last month (as a result of its follow-up audit in February) the Ministry rated our consortium as "high". We were very pleased, but more so when they also announced that we will receive over $900,000 in retro-active funding for last year, and this year's funding will be increased to a level that will balance income with expenditures; the first time since amalgamation!

Trustees received a preliminary report from staff at the October Business/Operations Meeting stating that staff would be undertaking a review of walking distances and what can be done to bring them in line with our co-terminus boards, most of which enjoy shorter walking distances.

We look forward to examining this issue in the near future and hopefully significant changes can be made for the next budget year.

Should you wish to contact Bob Borden, phone (home office 519-940- 0279; Guelph office 519- 822-4420, ext. 735 or email at bob.borden@ugdsb.on.ca. Also, you can visit the Board's website at www. ugdsb.on.ca and read the highlights of each Board meeting.