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Subscribe to RSSA free ride may be ending for many Illinois students, who, like others in cash-strapped school districts nationwide, may have to pay for their bus trip to school.
NBCChicago.com is reporting that the Illinois Board of Education is considering the move, offering districts in the state the options of eliminating buses altogether or having parents pay the transportation cost. The Illinois school system serves about 2.1 million students.
Nationwide, school districts struggling with massive budget shortfalls have started charging families for what had been a free service, with even more districts, including Palm Beach County in Florida, considering the idea of a pay-to-ride bus system.
Attempts by msnbc.com to contact a spokesperson with the Illinois State Board of Education or U.S. Department of Education was unsuccessful on Tuesday. But state transportation funding for Illinois schools already has been slashed by 42 percent since 2010, according to The Associated Press.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, most families in the Keller Independent School District started racking up bills in August, with fees up to $170 for a child each semester. Because of Texas law, special needs students continue to ride for free.
“We understand that families are monetarily strapped and people are still upset,” said Dana Chandler, general manager of transportation with the Keller Independent School District with Durham School Services. “But I am not getting 100 calls a day as I did earlier, but down to one or two from parents. Ridership has grown as the year has progressed and I can’t believe it, but it has become successful.”
Parents in Colorado's third-largest school district are in their second year paying $1 day for their kids to ride the bus to school.
"We've had several calls from other districts asking about our program," said Randy Barber, spokesman for the Douglas County School District in Castle Rock, Colo.
Each Douglas County bus is equipped with a Zonar GPS unit to track student ridership and each student is required to carry a card or a ZPass that tracks their use of the bus, Barber said. He said that has helped school officials verify the absence or attendance of a student.
"We have 13,000 students who ride the buses each day. It's been successful in many ways," Barber said.
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The pay-to-ride idea generated a healthy round of conversation among msnbc.com readers on Facebook on Tuesday. Among the comments:
- “It's not surprising given the cost of fuel. Hopefully the fee would be reasonable, and include a plan similar to free/reduced lunches for low income families, otherwise you'd likely see an increase in absent children,” Nicole Block-Flinn posted.
- “My Daughter in Law in Hawaii, would have to pay $75 a quarter to send her kids on the bus, they drive them to school. It is good they have that option. I guess the school boards don't have enough money,” Jill Pehle-Killeen wrote.
- “Dont we pay school taxes? Where does that money go? People can barely afford food & gas what makes them think we can afford to pay for anything else?!” Jeanette Allen posted.
Do you think transportation to school should be free?
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We pay taxes and yet we have no say say in how these taxes are used. Teachers should get to retire at the same time as most of the rest of us and with the same $ we do, plus they don't even work a 12 months a year as the rest of us. And the athletes should be treated the same as the rest of us-no discrimination. We pay to ride the bus so should they-and more- this is an activity-not an education of learning. They should receive the same funding as everyone else. If you want to be a jock-fork it up$$$$$$
I have no problem with it as long as all consolidation is stopped ( root cause of much busing) or all the places where busing is taking place has all the real estate taxes stopped. That would be fair.
They waste every penny they get and then they raise everything that they can think of. they being the state and they will do this over and over because they don;t control spending and we keep filling the well........
My kids walk or I drive them Our district only busses if you are more than 1.5 miles away from the school or on the other side of a highway. Our friends pay $1.50 per ride for the bussing in their district. Education is stil free, getting there is your problem. I think it is great! I want my tax money to go to education, not transportation. As a kid the school did not want kids walking and we were bussed- took longer to take the bus than it did to walk. My parents are thrilled when they visit and they see all the kids, siblings and parents outside walking with or watching their kids walk to elementary school
Back when I was in grade school, I used to walk six miles each way in a foot of snow, with no shoes. These lazy, good for nothing kids should simply walk! That'll learn 'em!
*ahem*
Sorry, I had to interject with that sort of anecdotal, reactionary sort of statement, as somehow I knew there would be comments saying how far and how bad conditions were back when, and now kids are coddled. It's a bus service. There are budget shortfalls. That, and also, busing is getting more expensive, namely if one notices how instead of "stops," the buses stop at almost every house. At least that's what I noticed in Pennsylvania.
If you don't want to pay extra for your kid to ride the bus, I heard of this invention, maybe you have too, it's called a bicycle. They're pretty convenient, and I'm sure your kid could get to and from school pretty easily. Also... $75 per quarter? That's nothing. I used to pay SEPTA $120 a month to get to/from graduate school. Not a pittance, when you consider as a graduate student I got paid an amazing $21,000 per year.
For schools that are within 2-3 miles I'd say a bicycle is just fine. I used to bike across town when the weather was nice, that was about 2 miles each way. Good exercise. And yeah, I have noticed that many districts no longer have "stops", but stop at each door front. Part of it is no one wanted their house or corner to be the "stop", and part is too many parents are afraid that a bus stop is going to cause their kid to get snatched up by a predator. Personally if I lived at a location deemed to be a bus stop I'd spruce it up, a few benches outside for the kids, and a hand painted school bus stop sign, but then again I still know what community pride and community involvement is.
Charging a fee for bussing isn't the big problem, it's doing so before cutting needless things like sports and large administrator pay.
First they destroyed the neighborhood schools in the name of desegregation, wasting billions of dollors, (and countless hours of student's lives), with busing, now they want to charge us for the ride thay have taken us on!
Illinois is the state of Obama! Remember he was trained in Illinois. He is a card carrying member of the most corrupt political organization in the world - the Chicago Democrat Party. The Chicago Dems have ruled the state for years. It is fiscally messed up and massively corrupt. What do you expect from a liberal Democrat?
Xant
Man You hit the nail on the head! You do know Cook county elected Quinn, not downstate Illinois. I say Illinois is nothing but a suburb in the corrupt state of Chicago!
We have paid for buses in Southern California for 15 plus years. My kids elementary school was over 6 miles away and being a working parent, I couldn't take them at the appointed time. I think I paid around $350 for each of them per year. All states are broke. But everybody gets their pensions!!!
I'm curious. What is it about someone working for the state that makes them not worthy of a retirement for their work? Could it be done better? Maybe. But what I get is that even if it was a 401(k) with matching, that would be too much.
maybe you should find other ways of investing your money...
I do think before the districts start charging for Bus Service, they need to look at other cuts. Zero tax dollars should be wasted any more on sports. 100% of the costs, from uniforms, transportation, coaches salaries, insurance, stadiums, etc. should be drawn from the community if the community wants it. The suggestion that anything more than "the three Rs" is also fat is moronic. A well rounded education, today includes technology classes, but also art and science is critical to an intelligent and excelling country. Sports, though, provide very little. You'd think character building and teamwork, but that's not always the case.
Then we have administrator pay. That can be drastically cut. No reason an administrator should be making more than the Governor if the state (I'm looking at YOU Seattle Public Schools).
Then, and only then if money is needed for transportation, it can be reworked, charged a nominal fee for. If the area has public transit work with Public Transit to provide bus-service to most of the students in the area and use District transportation for outlying areas. Once you've cut the fat of supporting a football team and stadium, and cut the administrator's salary, the remaining money needed to fund academics and transportation will be reasonable.
Riding the school bus has NEVER been free! It is included in the cost of all the property tax payments I make where more than half goes to the local school system... gee, I wish I could create a new fee and charge everyone extra when I need more money because I spent too much on other stuff! I have to re-arrange my budget too to pay for higher gas prices, why can't they? WHAT ARE THEY SPENDING ALL THAT MONEY ON???????
I look at it like this, if it is a state law that kids have to be in school, then it is up to the states to get them there, within a certain mile radius. Trim your budget someplace else.
Looks like things are going great in Barak's home state.
Modern Times People. Ouch! Sort of makes me wish we'd all stayed behind. Let's go back to the days of Ward, Wally, and June.
were do property tax come in ?
Why dosent Obama donate some of the money he raked in from the sale of his senate seat back in 08. Oh forgot. If he admitted to it he would be sharing a cell with Blago.
I've been paying for the bus for my daughter since she's been in high school (Glenbrook South HS in Glenview) for the last 3 years. $650 per year. And that's DISCOUNTED down from $800 if you don't pay "early."
THat's horrible.
Illinois(the state of Chicago) has to be one of the most corrupt states I have ever seen. I can't afford to move or I would. Why would a man leave a cabinet post to be mayor of Chicago? THAT IS WHERE OBAMA WANTS HIM!
Thats not a fair assumption considering that the Clintons control the Democratic Party!
When I went to grade school I walked, it was only 1/2 mile, but as a 6 year old it seemed a lot further. As for junior high and high school I road a city bus that my parents paid for, there was no free rides. They paid there taxes like everyone else and still had to pay for my ride to school. That's the problem with a lot of people today they wont everything given to them. I pay school taxes and I haven't had a child in school in the last 25 years. Just pay up and help the school system get through the rough times.
Proof positive that the idiots are running the local school district. There are not enough tax dollars to run the buses, so their plan is to charge the people. The same ones who are not making enough to pay enough taxes to provide enough money to run the buses. Huh?
Sounds good to me.
Might help the obesity problem also.
Great. now give up your keys and help with the pollution problem. Go ahead and send your kids out to walk in the 20 degree snow.
Anthony, when I was in Kindergarten in thru 6th grade brookfield, IL I had to walk 1/2 mile to school and 1/2 mile back every day in for school, in the rain, snow, freeziing cold temps and snow on the ground. It was cold during the winter. I am sure there are people who had to walk farther than that to get to school.
My family did not have a car, so all the kids in my family had to walk. The other kids all walked too, even if they had cars because their parents were working. A couple of times if there was too much snow, or if it was freezing, the neighbor offered to give us a ride, but i didn't want a ride, i wanted to walk in the heavy snow and freezing temps so I think I said yes maybe once or twice, during the entire 6 years. I know I did not like it when I went to JR HS, beacuse I had to ride the bus.
So I guess that means you got a ride to school everyday, or got bussed every day.
They are making a mistake. They should privatize bus service instead. We all know that government programs are wasteful, expensive, inefficient, and inadequate. If they privatize bus service, the capitalists will immediately lower costs, improve service, part Lake Michigan, and drive all Illinoisans to the promised land. (Canada.)
The buses are privatized and bid on every year in our district. Individually owned and maintained.
how is this news? ever since i started kindergarten they've made the kids pay 2 ride the bus.
This is exactly how America turns into a 3rd world country. Get ready to see people hanging behind the buses.
Do away with the buses altogether and put a republican out of business.
Chicago= The state where dead people still get to vote!
Now wait a second, those dead people (as well as illegal aliens) have rights too! How else will corrupt, incompetent Democrat politicians like governor Pat Quinnochio, Jesse Jackson Jr., Bobby Rush, Mr. innocent Rod Blagojevich, and the most (in)famous of all, Barack Hussein Obama get into office? The process has to be fair :-)
American 13
You crack me up! HAHAHA!