NB Education minister has vowed to take action after learning French- and English-speaking students have been travelling on the same school bus.
Under a long-standing policy the provincial government claims it is constitutionally mandated to provide separate buses for anglophones and francophones.
Dominic Cardy, leader of the provincial New Democratic Party, disagrees.
“A local-level compromise — that was apparently entirely agreeable to the parents and the community — is now being ditched because someone is playing politics,” he said.
A January report by the Atlantic Institute of Market Studies raised alarms these costs were rising disproportionately, citing separate buses as a cause.
“Few politicians or school officials have dared to even ask if the sharing of bus services, on a larger scale, might result in significant savings to provincial taxpayers,” it said.
In the 2014-15 school year, New Brunswick will spend $64.8-million to bus 90,000 students, or about $720 for each student.