School-bus disruption challenges students in rural and remote communities

Students, primarily in rural and remote communities, were either challenged to find alternative transportation to school today or were kept away from classes following disruptions to several contracted school-bus routes.  The service interruptions stem from outstanding payments owed to school-bus contractors. The Ministry of Education acknowledged the situation in an urgent statement, explaining that delays in completing the contractual approval process had affected payments.  On Friday, Education Minister Francis Fonseca explained that a new approval system was introduced for the 2026–2027 academic year. Under that system, school-bus contracts must be reviewed by the Office of the Contractor General before they can be approved and paid.  According to Fonseca, although many of the arrangements involve relatively small contracts, each must still complete the required review process. That additional procedure created delays at the beginning of the school year.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education: “The school bus contractors we are having some issues. This year for the first time we introduced a new system that provides for the Contractor General to review all of these contracts and they’re small contracts but they have to go through a process so there have been some delays in approval of those contracts by the Contractor General’s Office but we’re working through those and I I believe that all of those will be resolved over the next few days. So there should not be any further interruptions in terms of school bus transportation.”

The Ministry says it recognizes the hardship caused to students and parents, particularly those living in communities where contracted buses are the primary means of getting to school. It is working with the Ministry of Finance to facilitate the outstanding payments and expects the process to be completed by midweek.