Parents Call Foul Over Proposal To Cut Bus Transportation

After winning lotteries to take part in specialty education programs, about 7,500 Prince George’s County Public School students would lose their transportation to the programs under proposed budget cuts.

Facing an $85 million decrease in state educational funding, county schools are mulling a proposal to eliminate transportation specialty program.

But a group of parents in West Laurel said they are petitioning the school system and county government to bench the proposal, citing that it would create hardship on parents and students who've come to rely on the buses to for transportation to specialty programs that include Montessori, French Immersion, Creative and Performing Arts and Talented and Gifted. To be eligible for some of these programs-- regardless of income level or other demographics-- families take part in lotteries.

The measure is just one of  the spending cuts that school Superintendent William R. Hite is proposing in his fiscal 2012 budget. The cuts, among many, include 

“We really need to look hard at what they are proposing,” said parent Kristen Ruiz of West Laurel, who has a daughter attending Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt. “We don’t want to punish these children by saying ‘Sorry, you’ve earned your way into these programs, but now you can’t get there.’ ”

Eliminating the transportation for the specialty programs would save the schools an estimated $8 million a year. Some students are bused 15 to 20 miles each way, said School Board member Rosalind A. Johnson (Dist. 1) whose district includes Laurel.

It costs an average $1,961 a year to transport a specialty program student, compared to $430 a year for a neighborhood school student, according to the county schools.

 Johnson told Laurel Patch she’s seeking clarification on all the proposed cuts.

“Where am I on transportation? I am conflicted,” said Johnson. “Reading for struggling children, changing pre-kindergarten to half a day, when I look at those compared to transportation, it is hard to make a decision.”

Johnson said she will discuss with the Hite the possibility that families pay a fee for the busing so it won’t be eliminated. 

 “The transportation is not cheap, it is not inexpensive,” she said. “People need to understand the services we have are not free. They are paid for by taxes. Obviously though, we are not getting enough through the state.”

Hite said in a statement that he is aware that the transportation cuts might force some families to leave the specialty programs.  Due to cuts in state funding, he said, the school system was being forced to consider the transportation elimination and “other painful cuts,” the statement said.

“We do not want to create schools where low income students are disenfranchised from attending because of a lack of transportation.” 

He urged parents to contact their elected state representatives to, “restore some of these cuts to our budget.”

But County Council member Mary A. Lehman (D-Dist. 1) of Laurel said tough decisions lay ahead.  Although the County Council doesn't have direct oversight on the school's budget, she said there is a possibility that parents wanting their children to attend speciality programs may have to foot the bill and pay for bus transportation, which is not unheard of in other school districts.

The council "really can't change the bottom line [concerning the school's budget]," she said. "This is an issue that has a lot of people up in arms...I'll be shocked if they do away with [the buses]."

Still, Laurel parents said they aren't going to take the proposal lightly.

 Ruiz said she has heard from approximately 50 families via e-mail who are opposed to the transportation cuts.

If the cuts went through, Ruiz said arrangements could be made, perhaps with a carpool, to get her daughter to Roosevelt. It would be a do-able burden, Ruiz said, but she wonders about families who wouldn’t have the resources to pick up the slack.

“I understand we are in a budget crunch, that we need to cut $85 million, but then I see some administrator in the central office making six figures, that doesn’t bode well for me as a parent,” said Ruiz.

Testifying last week at a school budget hearing, parent Paul Gentile of West Laurel said axing the transportation was “draconian.”  He said parents in West Laurel would end up paying approximately $700 a year to drive their children to Roosevelt.

“It’s shifting the cost from the schools to the families,” he said.

But parents with difficult job schedules or low income families without access to transportation might have to drop out of the programs, which would defeat the purpose of them and would discriminate against low income families.

“What dysfunction have you introduced into their family lives?” Gentile asked.

Likewise, Johnson said it would be “hugely costly” for some families to pick up the transportation void, forcing some to leave the programs.

“These programs are highly valuable. We need them. Families need them.”

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