The Alberta government made an announcement on Wednesday that they will be reinstating the Fuel Price Contingency Program to assist schools with the ever-increasing diesel prices.

Retroactive payments will be enacted to March and will remain in place for the entirety of the 2022-23 school year.

School budgets were based on an average diesel price of $1.25 per litre. On Wednesday the lowest price of regular gasoline in Fort McMurray was 182.9 cents a litre according to gasbuddy.com.

$8.2 million has been put forward by the provincial government in additional student transportation funding from March through June of this year based on an estimated average diesel price of $1.80 per litre.

Fuel costs typically make up 20 to 25 per cent of a public school authorities’ student transportation budget.

In July, eligible school authorities will receive payment for these four months according to established bus route distances.

The Fuel Price Contingency Program first ran from 2005 to 2009 and then again from 2011 to 2013.