In the November magazine issue of School Transportation News, contributor Lisa J. Hudson talks about how an increase in charter schools nationwide could bring with it challenges for these charters to find transportation services.
Only 15 states and the District of Columbia currently provide funding to charters. In addition to other services, school choice can mean the responsibility for getting children to and from school falls on the shoulders of parents, not local school districts. And where districts do “collaborate” with charters and provide the service for free, they are often ineligible to receive reimbursement from state. This makes it a slippery slope for districts to climb when attempting to increase student ridership in today economic climate.
The State Journal-Register reports that Ball Charter School, the only of its kind in Springfield, Ill., is one that receives free transportation services from the local school district, but it is still facing budget challenges tied to rising salaries and health care costs, even as it mulls expanding into a high school. But Ball has it lucky compared to others.
Many charters nationwide, especially those in more rural areas, must find their own transportation services, which could mean contracting with school bus companies. Limited operating budgets for these charter schools can make it difficult to survive as support services figure to quickly eat into the budgets. That, in turn, can also affect the school bus companies’ bottom lines. Federal “Race to the Top” grants are designed to incentivize the creation and growth in number of charter schools, but it remains to be seen exactly how these schools are impacting services like transportation, which has been dealing with widespread program cuts for at least the past year.
There’s only so much money to go around. Something must give. Will that, again, be transportation services? What are your thoughts?
