After expressing concerns during the budget process, the Pennsylvania School Bus Association (PSBA) is applauding a decision this month by the legislature and Gov. Tom Corbett to preserve a dedicated line of funding for student transportation, rather than placing it in a proposed block grant.
In recent months, PSBA members feared that replacing the state’s established school bus funding formula with a new Student Achievement Education Block Grant (SAEBG) would ultimately force school districts to make major cuts in transportation service.
“Inclusion of school transportation funding in the block grant would have jeopardized pupil safety by prompting some districts to reduce or eliminate bus service,” said Selina Pittenger, PSBA’s executive director. “The (existing) formula for calculating funding for school transportation costs has proven effective in providing safe and efficient bus transportation for Pennsylvania students. At the same time, many small, family-owned companies that provide busing service to school districts would have been forced out of business, resulting in the potential loss of thousands of jobs.”
When they first learned of the governor’s block-grant proposal, some school districts discussed potentially reducing their bus routes, cancelling high school busing and eliminating all service other than mandated busing for students with special needs.
PSBA emphasized that the safety of student statewide prompted their stance against the proposed plan and pointed to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showing that students are about 50 times more likely to arrive at school safely if they take the bus than if they drive themselves or ride with friends. Additionally, students are 20 times more likely to arrive at school safely if they take the bus than if a parent drives them.
“We thank our policymakers for looking long and hard at the long-term implications of ending dedicated funding for student transportation,” Pittenger said. “School bus transportation has proven its value in enhanced safety for students for decades, while also providing a reliable, cost-effective means of transportation Pennsylvania children without placing additional burdens on parents and working families.”
Meanwhile, the “other” PSBA, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, also rubber-stamped the final 2012–2013 state budget while cautioning that the state is still in “catch-up mode” because of last year’s huge cuts to public education. In a July 2 release, the association stated it is relieved the approved budget did not include the Student Achievement Education Block Grant (SAEBG) proposed by Gov. Corbett.
Though the governor said this new block grant would provide “flexibility” to school systems, the association the grant would have “disconnected” the relationship and transparency between the actual cost of services and the amount of state support received. Items that would have been included in the SAEBG were basic education funding, pupil transportation, nonpublic and charter school transportation, and school employees’ social security appropriations.
