75-minute bus ride home possible for LTUSD students
By Kathryn Reed
School has been out for more than an hour. Do you know where your child is?
The answer next school year might be: “on the school bus”.
Lake Tahoe Unified School District board of education members on Tuesday heard two proposals of what the bus schedule could be for the 2012-13 school year. They didn’t like either and asked staff to come up with something else.
LTUSD buses may be in the barn more than on the streets in the fall. Photo/LTN file
One scenario had some students riding a bus home for 75 minutes. The longest route now is about 45 minutes. Considering it’s 12 miles from Meyers to Stateline, that’s one long trip to get from school to a bus stop.
Students in the Tahoe Keys could be faced with a longer walk because buses for students in grades 6-12 might be eliminated. They would have to walk to Eloise or Washington to find a school bus.
Board members were adamant that having students arrive at South Tahoe Middle School 20 minutes before classes start is a horrible idea.
The district has been subsidizing the bus program for years. It costs $1.2 million to bus about 1,900 students a day. The state reimburses LTUSD $830,000.
The district has an ongoing deficit of $1.2 million to deal with what could grow to $2.5 million if voters say no to a measure on the November ballot that would fund education in California.
So, the cuts to LTUSD transportation are for two reasons – to deal with the current shortfall, and plan for a possible take-away by the state.
Because the district accepts state transportation dollars it must provide busing for K-8.
Twelve of the 16 bus drivers the district employs were at the May 1 meeting.
“It looks like six may be cut,” Steve Morales, facilities director, told Lake Tahoe News.
Parents who have the means already pay a fee for their child that starts at $150 a year. About $60,000 is collected each year in bus fees, according to Morales.
“I think parents would be open to a sliding scale or paying more,” parent Karen Fink told the board.
Asked by Lake Tahoe News about using BlueGo as a means to transport students, Morales said there is “no appetite” to do that. He added that school buses are designed differently than municipal buses and that drivers having different training.
“A lot of students ride the bus who wouldn’t have another way to get to school,” parent Alice Jones told the board. “Not only do they make it to school, but they are there early enough to get the free or reduced breakfast.”
Jones also brought up the adverse environmental impacts of having more vehicles on the road if fewer buses are rolling.
The district runs 12 full size buses that can seat 84 and four smaller buses with a capacity of 20. The smaller buses are used for special education students. Federal law mandates public schools accommodate these students, often not having them co-mingle with the larger student population. The district cannot save money with spec ed even if it wanted to. Districts must provide for spec ed students even at the expense of the majority.
$60,000 collected to pay for a program that costs $1.2 million? Not even including the free meals. No wonder taxpayers are at the end of their rope.
Thanks for covering this meeting Kae. Steve, were you able to ride a school bus as a child? Was this service provided to you at no cost? Providing public school, including transportation, is something that sets our country apart from other developing countries and has contributed to our past successes. It is something we need to continue to do, and do a better job with it, if we want to remain competitive as an economy.
HEALTHY, EDUCATED CHILDREN! And ones that have safe reliable transportation to school!
And to those that find the cost of busing children to school too much and want the parents to shoulder the cost I have to ask, did your parents have to pay for your school bus service when you were growing up? Or maybe you belong to the GOP and and you advocate the dumbing down of our children to guarantee only the rich elitist who can afford a private education stay in power!
And just imagine how many more car miles would be traveled in the basin without bus service for our children. I’m sure it would make the TRPA shudder.
This LTUSD school bus program has always bothered me for a different reason. I went to school here and yes my family did not have to pay for it besides with state tax dollars.
Over the years I have watched this district consistently purchasing new buses which I am sure cost a lot of money. Yet in other school districts throughout California they keep using older buses for many additional years and I am sure this helps to keep cost down.
I just wait for some one to post some excuse as to why the district does this. How long do we keep the equipment we have and what is the state average for maintaining older equipment.We are very fortunate that we have the nice educational facilities that we have in this community however it is still important to keep cost in line as continuing to just throw money in the direction of education is not the answer.
Many children with working parents have no choice but to take the bus every day. Some families do not own a car. Our daughter takes the bus home most days, which saves one more car polluting our Tahoe air to go pick her up. Riding the bus teaches kids that there are more ways to get around than private autos. Sure, families can be asked to pay more, but that would not come close to covering the proposed cuts. Taxpayers like Steve who say the “are the end of their rope” should save their outrage for the mega corporations in our state that avoid taxes through offshore shelters, the endless loopholes in the tax code for the uber rich, trillions spent on wars of choice, etc. Money saved from dropping a few bombs on children in Afghanistan could more than pay for busing all children in Tahoe for years to come.