SCHOOL BUS SAVINGS NOT WORTH COST TO COMMUNITY

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education has approved new ridership eligibility guidelines for the district. It could means hundreds of children now riding the bus will walk to school this fall. The change is part of a $1.2 million budget cut package approved by the board in March.

By increasing ridership eligibility from 1 to 1.5 miles for elementary students, and from 1 to 2 miles for secondary students, the district will save $57,000. But these are not real dollars.

Because the district is reimbursed about 70 percent of its transportation costs by the state, the actual savings will actually be $17,000 to $18,000. That's less than the salary of one starting teacher. The savings are insignificant when compared to the inconvenience to parents and the safety hazards this will create.

School districts are eligible for state transportation aid for students who live at least one mile from school. By state law, those students who live more than three and a half miles from their attendance center must be transported by the district.

School districts have the local choice of transporting students between one and three and a half miles, but few districts take the option. The director of pupil transportation in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said he could count on one hand the number of districts that don't bus students who live one mile from school. And that's out of nearly 540 school districts.

The guidelines adopted by the local board would eliminate half of the district's 20 buses, but school officials say the reduction won't be that dramatic. The district can eliminate only three buses without rebidding its transportation contract. That means the actual ridership eligibility figures may be less than 1.5 or 2 miles. We have to wonder how much more money, in terms of manpower and consultant fees, will be spent to redraw the bus boundaries, since almost every student will have to be considered individually.

While the board may consider the move a matter of fiscal caution, we sound the alarm for actual caution in other words, student safety.

Many parents have jobs that simply won't allow them to take their children both to and from school. But our city is not designed for these walking children. There aren't enough sidewalks or crosswalks. As it now stands, only Kingshighway and William are considered too busy for students to cross. That means young children would have to cross such busy thoroughfares as Sprigg, Perryville, Mount Auburn and Cape Rock. If more parents are required to drive their children to school daily, traffic congestion will rise dramatically, increasing the chances of student injury. If even one child is hurt, how does that compare with a saving of $18,000?

Where should the money come from? The easiest choice would be from fund balances. The school district will likely start next year with a balanced budget and an estimated $2.4 million in reserves. It may be good business practice to keep one month's payroll in reserve, but there is no state law requiring a certain balance. That $18,000 wouldn't even make a dent in the $500,000 balance of the incidental fund.

Parents may also prefer a slightly larger student-to-teacher class ratio than the aggravation of transporting their kids to school each day. It seems questionable to make this drastic change for $18,000, unless the board is trying to issue a wake-up call to potential voters. If that's the case, we feel there are better ways for the district to get its message across.

By the end of the legislative session on May 15, school officials should know if funding will increase. Several options are on the horizon, including earmarking lottery revenues, making a corporation tax permanent and upgrading the foundation formula.

The board of education needs to make a better case to changing busing than a budget reduction of $17,000 to $18,000. In a $19.7 million budget, the savings represents less than one-tenth of one percent. These "big" savings may also be result in lower average daily attendance, which would reduce state funding. As we see it, the savings are simply not worth the costs to parents or student safety.

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