Cash-strapped schools start charging for bus service

BOSTON -- Lawmakers and school officials have a stark message for parents who think their taxes already pay for school bus transportation: No more free rides.

Cash-strapped public schools trying to hang on to their teachers are increasingly turning to busing fees to raise money. The move has angered parents and raised concerns that children may be forced to use more dangerous means -- like walking -- to get to school.

"It seems like this country can afford a lot of other things, but we can't send our students to school on buses?" asked Jane Million, spokeswoman for the National Association of Elementary School Principals. "To be able to get to school in a safe manner, we need to be able to provide that."

About a third of all school districts in Massachusetts already charge students in middle school and high school for busing. On Cape Cod, for example, the town of Barnstable raises $350,000 per year by charging $200 per child in grades 7 and higher.

Threat to furlough teachers

Kids in kindergarten through sixth grade are entitled to free rides if they live at least two miles from school. But that may change soon as Massachusetts lawmakers warn communities and schools they will lose millions in state aid because of a $3 billion budget deficit.

Sally Forbes, a parent in Hingham, supported her school board's recent rejection of bus fees. But she is reconsidering because the school board is threatening to furlough teachers to save money.

"The bottom line is trying to fill in these holes so you don't lose teachers," said Forbes, mother of a second-grader and a high school freshman.

Communities in other states, including California, Texas, New Jersey, Montana, Hawaii, Kansas, North Dakota and Utah, also make parents pay for pupil transportation to and from school, with exemptions for the poor.

"It's certainly something that's become more acceptable," said Robin Leeds, a lobbyist for the National School Transportation Association, which represents private bus companies. "Rather than getting rid of transportation, they'll charge fees."

The fees are most prevalent in Massachusetts and California, said Mike Martin, executive director of the National Association for Pupil Transportation, an industry group. He said bus fees are not common -- yet.

"It's something that everyone is looking at," Martin said.

California districts, required to provide free transportation only to special-needs students, are scrambling to raise money with the state facing a $34 billion deficit, the nation's largest.

"We've got districts reducing bus service by increasing 'walking areas,' we've got districts charging fees for the first time and districts that have been charging fees raising the fees," said Bob Austin, coordinator of California's school transportation office. "Our phones have been going crazy."

About a third of California's 900 districts charge bus fees.

Districts in Orange County may increase bus fees -- currently about $225 annually -- and stop transporting students who live near schools. South of San Francisco, the Pajaro Valley school board may impose a $270 bus fee to raise $750,000 next year.

The Capistrano Unified School District has proposed eliminating busing altogether -- a move Leeds, of the bus industry group, says would be "counter to safety."

"Transportation is not a mandated service. It is a local district option," Austin said. "They're making decisions to either take teachers out of the classroom or take buses off the road."

School buses are the safest form of school transportation, according to a National Research Council report last year. Buses are the way one-fourth of all students get to school but account for only 2 percent of child deaths in school-related traffic accidents.

School districts in Massachusetts can get state reimbursement of some transportation costs. But Gov. Mitt Romney has proposed eliminating the reimbursement altogether to help balance the books. He also favors the use of fees to raise money.

While unpopular, busing fees have withstood legal challenges in California, North Dakota and Massachusetts.

Some parents said states shouldn't pass the buck.

"The state needs to look at its own responsibility for funding public education," said Judy Wilson of Hingham. "That's what our country is supposed to do -- is provide a public education without a cost to students."