Last month, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that school districts are not required to provide free bus service to students. The unanimous decision ended an ongoing debate about whether bus fees were constitutional. The issue is, in fact, a controversial one not only in Indiana but throughout the country, with opponents arguing that fees compromise accessibility to education.
But the Indiana Supreme Court said it does not believe bus fees directly affect educational access.
“The decision to cease transportation services does not deny open access to public education, ” the decision reads. “It will inevitably require some families to make alternative accommodations, but it will not close the schoolhouse doors.”
Several states throughout the country have policies concerning the collection of fees from parents for school transportation services. For example, New York, Oregon, Georgia and several others prohibit the practice. Other states, including California, Texas and New Jersey, allow it, and many others have no policies either way.
Proponents of bus fees argue that where the state funding is not enough to cover the costs of transportation, charging parents for school bus routes may help with some of the budget constraints.
In Indiana, many school districts are dealing with a decrease in state funding due to caps on state property taxes. These ensure that that a property owner does not pay more than a fixed percentage of a property’s gross assessed value in taxes. As these cuts affect school transportation, districts may look for other ways to fund bus programs.
“We continue to have to live with a lot less money for our tax-supported funds, one of which is transportation. So in the next couple of years we will struggle with paying for transportation,” said Dr. Flora Reichnadter, superintendent of the Frankilin Township Community School Corporation.
A few years ago, two parents sued the district after the implementation of bus fees. An Appeals Court ruled the fees were unconstitutional, but the recent decision by the state Supreme Court overturned this.
Pete Meslin, director of transportation at the Newport-Mesa Unified School District in Orange County, California, said that in some cases districts with tight budgets are faced with the choice of either funding transportation or other essential academic programs. Often, districts can choose to fund the academic programs instead.
“Faced with this choice, as witnessed by many California districts during the recent recession, bus service will be sacrificed in order to continue educational programs. Once the funding is restored many districts have not chosen to restore the eliminated bus services to their prior levels,” he said.
While some districts may consider implementing fees to offset some of the budget cuts, Meslin says that these programs may be difficult to implement in districts in low-income neighborhoods.
“Charging for school busing is only a feasible option in those communities where the income level is high enough to support the program,” Meslin added, “In economically impacted areas, fee based systems struggle to be effective.”
But some districts dealing with budget cuts have made the fee programs work for them.
During the 2011-2012 school year, the Jefferson County Public Schools district near Denver was facing major budget cuts that would have either eliminated transportation services or increased the walk distances for students.
“So, the Jeffco Schools Board of Education sent survey to the Jefferson County communities for their feedback on if they were willing to pay a bus fee, so there will be no interruption the regular transportation services,” sais Greg Jackson, executive director of transportation and fleet services for the district.
Jackson added that most parents were accepting of the fee implementation, but that a small minority expressed frustration, which later subsided through communication efforts from the transportation staff.
“After the terminal staffs educated parents through conversations, meetings, I believe it helped those parent have a better understanding to the bus fee program,” he said.
