In the red, school districts cut yellow buses

As a mother of two, Feleccia Moore-Davis is accustomed to the usual back-to-school swirl of new supplies, new clothes and
new routines. But this year, that final flurry of summer is accompanied by an unusual worry.

Moore-Davis does not
yet know how her children will get to school.

Last month, the financially-pressed Houston-area school district
her two daughters attend decided to end bus service for students living within two miles of schools. Now Moore-Davis is contemplating
the bustling intersections and streets without sidewalks the girls would have to navigate if they walked to school, and wondering
whether her own work schedule can be reconfigured for drop-offs and pickups.

It is a dilemma facing thousands of
parents across the country, as cash-strapped school districts from California to Florida have cut bus routes to chip away
at spending.

"I’m still trying to figure out how I will do this," said Moore-Davis, who has one daughter
entering middle school and another entering high school. "My youngest is very concerned about who’s going to pick her
up. She keeps asking me about it."

About 23 percent of school districts surveyed by the American Association
of School Administrators say they are reducing or eliminating school transportation for the coming school year as part of
cost-cutting measures. That’s up from the 14 percent who considered such measures during the 2008-2009 year.

"I’ve
seen it happening in Massachusetts, in Ohio, in Indiana. A lot of school districts are looking at in varying degrees,"
said Robin Leeds, industry specialist with the National School Transportation Association.

In Indiana, the Lawrence
Township district near Indianapolis expects to save $800,000 by moving to a shuttle system. Edinburgh Community Schools have
eliminated a bus to save $15,000, forcing dozens of students to walk.

Franklin Township in Indianapolis cut 15
bus routes and consolidated others. Superintendent Walter Bourke said more cuts may be necessary, including eliminating bus
service for some students.

Elementary students in Elkhart who live within a mile of their school have to walk or
be dropped off under the new policy. Intermediate and high school students within two miles of school can no longer ride the
bus.

Beth Calhoun says she worries about her daughter Allison’s safety as she walks a couple of blocks to school
in Elkhart.

"It’s not safe out here," she said. "There are too many pedophiles. It’s a scary day
and age for kids."

"It’s an awful thing to do, and the only reason we’re doing it is the state has taken
action to reduce our revenue to support our programming," said Doug Hasler, director of support services for Elkhart
Community Schools. "We really have no other choice."
Hasler said some students may have to walk greater distances
because they don’t have a straight line from their home to the school.

Even students who are eligible to ride the
bus could be forced to walk up to a half-mile to get to a bus stop, he said.

The district hopes to save up to $300,000
on transportation costs this year through the changes.

Parents and transportation advocates say the proposed cuts
will have wide-ranging repercussions — affecting everything from parents’ work schedules to student attendance. Many
also worry that the cuts will jeopardize the safety of students who may have to cross busy highways or dangerous roads to
get to class. Deadly school bus crashes are rare, while past studies have shown riding to school in a car, walking and bicycling
account for hundreds of student deaths a year.

For their part, school districts say trimming student transportation
is a painful but necessary way of coping with reductions in state funding and a drop in property-tax revenue.

Most
states reimburse only a portion of bus-service costs, saddling local districts with the bulk of the expense of transporting
students. In addition, most states do not reimburse the costs of transporting students who live within a specified distance
from school.

In Brockton, Mass., near Boston, the school district expects to save $500,000 by taking 10 school
buses off the road in September, adding to the 20 already cut last year.

In Cobb County, Ga., a district facing
a $58 million deficit, the school board recently voted to consolidate bus routes by eliminating 8,500 stops — about
15 percent of the total in the district. The school district revised plans to eliminate 11,000 bus stops and changed stops
to avoid busy streets after dozens of angry parents showed up at a school board meeting.

School districts throughout
California are grappling with severe cuts in state funding, including a 20-percent cut in funding for school transportation
in the new state budget. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had lobbied for a 65 percent reduction, but relented after a chorus of
protests.

After losing about $9 million in state funding, the state’s Novato Unified School District decided to
eliminate all bus service except for special education students. The move will affect about 600 of the district’s 8,000 students.

"We were trying to avoid hitting classrooms," said Marla Blackledge, Novato’s chief financial officer.

Even before the drop in funding, state money covered less than half the costs of school bus service, Blackledge said.

"This was just the last straw," she said. "But we do have concerns for working parents, how their kids
will get to school, how they will get to day care, about parents living in poverty who don’t have a car to drive kids to school.
We’re concerned about whether the kids will come to school at all."

In Texas, the state reimburses districts
according to a formula set in 1983. Last year, the Cypress-Fairbanks school district, which Moore-Davis’ two daughters attend,
spent $32 million for student transportation services, but only got $6.4 million in reimbursement.

Texas also does
not reimburse the cost of transporting students who live within two miles of school.

In the past, the district
absorbed the extra costs, but this year, the district is confronting a $14 million budget deficit and no longer can do that,
Superintendent David Anthony said in a letter to parents.

In addition to cutting service within the two-mile limit,
the district will no longer offer "late" bus services for students who stay after school for extracurricular activities.
About 16,000 of the district’s 104,000 students will be affected by the changes.

Moore-Davis’ job as vice president
for student learning at a local community college gives her more flexibility than most working parents, but she says many
of her neighbors are not so lucky.

"A lot of people are experiencing economic hardship. There are families
that need to have two jobs and can’t just stop in the middle of day to pick up children," Moore-Davis said. "And
they’re concerned about the security of their children."