Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education released a report with the dismal findings that a quarter of the nation’s students, and two out of every five students who are black or Hispanic, drop out of school or otherwise fail to graduate high school on time. Here’s an idea to potentially turn this tide.
On the very same day, June 2, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood sent a letter to House and Senate members notifying them of his plans to make NHTSA FY 2011 budget money available to create a public outreach campaign to spread the benefits of school busing. The aim is to push the safety benefits of the yellow bus, the safest form of ground transportation there is available to students to get to and from school, and also the environmental benefits. School buses, says the American School Bus Council, can take up to 36 passenger cars off of roads during the school commute.
The NHTSA public education campaign, which had yet to be developed in partnership with the school bus industry, is all well and good, as school districts nationwide are eyeing a 20 percent increase in service cuts or eliminations from this past school year. Still, many school buses operate daily below capacity. So, it makes sense to petition parents, community leaders and others to put more children on this ultra-safe mode of travel. And, perhaps, the increased ridership could have a positive impact on the number of school buses being manufactured, which over the last two production years has been down by around 25 percent. The forecast for this year is worse.
But, in light of the National Center for Education Statistics report for the 2007-2008 school year, there could be another avenue for the school bus industry to take in attempting to increase student ridership. The more kids who find it harder and harder to get to school, the more kids who won’t get a good education. This, obviously, can have a detrimental effect on graduation rates. And factor in the socioeconomic findings of the report, which show that those students from poorer neighborhoods, predominantly black and Hispanic ones, are the ones most affected by the lack of educational opportunities, it doesn’t require a big stretch to see how school buses can play yet another vital role in students’ lives.
It’s been a conversation that has been overheard throughout the industry for several years now, how school buses could be better used to promote learning environments and prepare children to learn. There are many programs started nationwide on the grassroots level, but there has been little national push from the industry. Never mind that, historically, high school students only account for mere percentage points of total school bus ridership. Especially in this economy, the school bus industry needs to be reaching out to those who want, those who need transportation alternatives more than the next kid.
It’s doubtful the NHTSA public education campaign will talk much about the student’s school day outside of the school bus, but maybe it should. And maybe, one day, the U.S. Department of Education will also sit down at the same table and enter the conversation. With 25 percent of our high school seniors failing to graduate with their peers, it seems the DOE needs all the help it can get.
