Budget cuts and increased fuel costs are combining to make it harder for school districts to provide bus service for students. And a new state proposal could render transportation funding as optional for school officials.
The plan also would reduce state school transportation spending by 20 percent, to $496 million.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
The Wheels On The Bus May Not Be Going Round And Round For Much Longer
California ed code specifically allows for school districts to charge fees to ride school buses; some districts do charge, others don't. But with California mired in so much debt, there may be an alternative to charging for buses--not providing them at all:
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7 comments:
I already have kids who use the excuse of heavy rain flooding their bus stop as a way to avoid coming to school.
Interesting legal question arises then. Can you hold a parent liable for not having their child at school if they have no practical means to get the student to school? A person who works a shift from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM couldn't get their kid to school in the morning nor pick them up in a timely manner (your times may vary for the example). Can you require a parent to quit their job in order to be their kid's bus? I will be interested in how they answer that one.
I'm not sure about the practical implications. You're not *required* to send your kid to public school, and the state isn't required to get your kid there (even though once your kid gets there, the school might feed him/her if you don't make enough money).
This must rank with the 12-month school year as one of the great breakthrough education ideas of the century. School buses are such a totally unnecessary and thoroughly frivolous expenditure. Schoolchildren are so spoiled. Why can't they simply drive to school themselves? Truly, it bewilders me to wonder why no school district anywhere has ever taken this ingenious advancement in budget management.
Darren, I thought it was mandatory to stay in school until you were 16. I understand you are implying that the parent could home-school or send to private school. However, what if these are not options? Parent is not capable of home-schooling, can't pay for private schooling, and lives too far from public school to walk?
What is required in this situation?
Nothing is required except that you educate the child. The state will provide the education, but isn't required to transport that child to the school. At some point, parents have to take some responsibility!
Just a prediction; any district that eliminates buses will experience a decline in attendance that results in a funding penalty that dwarfs the savings on the transportation. And, as an added bonus, we'll get less educated children. How do these people get elected?
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