Transportation Changes May Be Coming

In starting this discussion, I will make a point about transportation in SPS that was made at the Work Session on the Budget. 

Overall, SPS transports many more students than the average district does.  My understanding of that meaning is that many other districts do not provide transportation to schools outside of your neighborhood and the amount of transportation available to middle/high school students is far less in other districts.

I understand the concern about limiting transportation especially when so much has been provided in the past.  I also understand that it can be seen as a social justice issue when cutting off transportation makes it harder for some families to access programs.  But this is the way it is in most urban cities and students are still able to access schools via public transportation.  (I know in NYC that many students take the subway or bus - for an hour or more each way - in order to access speciality programs.)

So what is to follow here may seem a shock to the system but really, it's actually being more in line with what other districts do. 

To first understand, SPS is estimated to spend nearly $31M on transportation this school year.  That's a fair chunk of change.  It breaks out to nearly $16M for Gen Ed, $14M for Special Ed and about $970K for homeless students. 

Bob Westgard, the head of Transportation, seems completely serious about trying to rein in these costs and his presentation to the Board reflected that.

Options:

1) Limit transportation to neighborhood schools for elementary and K-8.  This is estimated to save about $3M. 

2) End transportation for Option School Gen Ed students.  This could save about $1.7M.  In surveying 27 other districts, Mr. Westgard said that 60% do not provide transportation to option schools.

3)  and 4) would limit transportation to neighborhood schools for middle and high school students.  The savings here is not as great as many of these students already use public transportation, bike or have a car.   For secondary, it looks like it would save about $700k.  But it would end giving ORCA cards out. 

5) Try to find out the numbers of Special Ed students by May, rather than in July/August which creates more of a scramble.  Cost savings TBD.

6) End Head Start busing unless externally funded.  Savings = $220k.   One issue here is that SPS receives some matching funds for which the transportation costs are included and so that could change that match number.

7) End busing and ORCA cards for APP and IB programs.  Savings = $700k.

8) Alternative funding for crossing guards.  As you may recall, the City used to pay for this and stopped and it became another transportation cost for SPS.  One thought for funding is to have the bus "paddles" have cameras and the City could give out tickets for people who do not obey the paddle signal.  In order to fund the crossing guards, I don't think this is a bad idea at all. 

9) Only permit late arrival/early release when district-wide OR externally funded.  I'm sure many parents would say "great" on this one because of the varying number of dates at each school.  The district can't afford this added cost if it is school-generated.  It has cost up to $200k but has gone down somewhat but it all depends on what is scheduled.

10)  The biggie - Move to a 3-Tier schedule with one-hour intervals (7:30 am, 8:30 am and 9:30 am) - this could save over $2M.  This means flipping the schedule with high school students going later and elementary students going earlier.

11) contract out bus monitors (about $100k).  I didn't even know SPS used bus monitors.

Clearly, #10 would mean the biggest changes and it was noted that there would have to be negotiations with labor as well as meeting RCW requirements.   

What was stressed in the discussion by both Westgard and various Board members is what could be implemented next school year versus those that need more planning time.

Several of the Board members liked the idea of the 3-tier system including Director Peaslee.  Westgard said it wasn't so much a challenge to Transportation as it would be to Enrollment. 

President Smith-Blum pointed out that it seemed wrong to not give transportation to APP and IB students who don't really have a choice of where to go to access these programs.  Westgard seemed to think that APP middle and high school and IB could forgo the transportation but not APP elementary.
She also pointed out that the district gets transportation dollars for APP so she was confused about the costs here.

One issue that Directors wanted to see clarification on is how many students live in the boundaries of each school and how many need transportation.

Director McLaren made the good (and obvious) point that it would be good - if SPS moves to a 3-tier system - to do this in conjunction with the new boundary work that Enrollment is doing. 

Director Patu was asking about the various transportation options and Mr. Westgard said there were 27 exceptions to their transportation standards and they need to start daylighting them for examination.

He pointed out that in Minnesota, all secondary students take public transportation and go to neighborhood schools and, if not, their parents figure out the transportation.

Director Martin-Morris asked if the 3-tier system could be put in place for the coming year, 2013-2014.  Mr. Westgard said yes but to plan it, the decision would need to be make within a month.

Superintendent Banda offered that he had been through a 3-tier transportation change and that it was important to make sure parents understood it clearly.

Director Peaslee asked a question that many parents ask - why is there any yellow bus service for high school?  The answer is because of Special Ed and that directly affects the start times. Westgard pointed out that they use a number of cabs to transport Special Ed students and they had eliminated the use of 85 cabs (but he didn't note how many are still being used).

President Smith-Blum is very in favor of doing what can be done to encourage/aid walking and biking to school.   She was also questioning eliminating transportation to some students on a bus line but not others.

Director Carr seemed very on-board with getting something into play by next school year and asked many pertinent questions on this issue.

So weigh in and not just here.  Let the Directors know your thoughts about any or all of this because I think it will help inform their vote.

Bottom line through is that I believe district leaders - both hired and elected - believe that transportation costs MUST be cut.

I also note that Governor Inlsee's budget plan would FULLY fund a new transportation formula for 2013-2014 at about $198M.  But we have to wait until the House and Senate budget come into play (this by April 10th) to see if any changes in the state budget could help the district's budget.