Busing students should be priority one

The editor of the Frontiersman has requested that candidates respond to issues. One that was raised concerns funding school buses. The state of Alaska has fully funded bus transportation for our students. This past year there was an effort to cut this provision. In all likelihood, transportation will again face the "chopping block" in the future due to the state's financial situation.

Why do we pay for transportation for our children to get to school?

First, riding the bus ensures that students get to school and increases the probability that they will be successful and graduate. According to Scott Schwald, the Operations and Pupil Transportation director of Mat-Su Borough School District, roughly 54 percent of our students ride the bus. That is about 7,000 children each day. Getting there is an important part of the educational equation. We know that students who attend school on a regular basis learn and achieve. When children miss school, valuable time and educational experiences may be lost.

Anyone who has tried to run a program for children here in the Valley knows that transportation is often an issue for participation. Charter school parents bring their children to school and pick them up as part of the conditions for attending a charter school. Parents understand and agree to this obligation. There are various reasons why many people cannot do this for their children in our regular schools, including work schedules, unreliable transportation, insufficient funds for fuel, parental illness or disability.

Safety is another reason transportation is provided. My children attended a neighborhood school for two years when we lived in Anchorage. They walked together with several friends and occasionally a parent would accompany them, but not all of the time. My son was hit by a car on a dark January morning. He was badly shaken and bruised but otherwise unhurt. It could have been worse.

Busing children, especially across busy highways, has often been the choice of school districts for safety reasons. I realize that bus stops on the dark roads in Mat-Su may not seem all that safe but, from the time a child gets on the bus until he or she is returned to the bus stop at the end of the day, there is supervision. Many homeowner's associations and community councils have built bus shelters, and often parents wait with their children at the stops for their safety and supervision.

Busing also ensures, for the most part, a fairly strict schedule of instruction time. The buses arrive within a few minutes of the same time daily and leave on the appointed rounds at roughly the same time. Programs that depend on parental delivery and pick up sometimes have difficulty with timeliness. Early and late arrivals impact programs and instruction. (I have waited as long as an hour and a half for a parent to pick up a child after the program time.)

In some school districts around the country there has been the decision to simply not provide school buses. This has been happening mostly in urban areas where there is public transportation, sidewalks, street lights, and/or areas with neighborhood schools where people may only have a mile or less to walk. I do not believe this is a realistic option for us.

We have limited public transportation at this time. The blanket cutting of funds hurts those without resources. Often those without resources are the ones that need formal education the most. It would also highly impact our remote students and may leave the only opportunity for education to be home-schooling. Correspondence and home-schooling are an option in our district but it is not for all. Not all families have the ability, skills and temperament to teach their children academic subjects, nor is it always feasible.

In some other areas of the country there is the discussion of charging people for riding the school bus. The same issues arise as it would if busing were not provided. The poorest of the poor would not be able to afford to send their children to school.

Director Schwald did propose the changes that are in place this year to reduce expenses through combining the buses for Colony High and Colony Middle schools, and at Houston High and Houston Middle schools. Changes like these help economize and provide the services wanted with little inconvenience.

Brainstorming more ideas to combine and utilize the buses more efficiently makes sense.

In our district, each bus travels on the average 107 miles a day. The average number of miles with students is approximately 49. Our costs for student transportation are projected to be about $9 million this year. Reducing the number of miles that buses travel without students would help reduce expenses.

One suggestion, that has possibilities but still raises questions, is the forming of bus stops only along the main feeder roads. This means that families would have to get their children to the main stops from the subdivisions. "Safe homes" and places to wait before and after school might also need to be established in neighborhoods under this option. This still does not meet everyone's needs. Safety issues continue to concern me because of the darkness, moose and possible "stranger danger." Some subdivisions extend a long way off of the feeder roads and some are two or three smaller feeder roads removed.

I have traveled in the Mat-Su Borough, including back in Meadow Lakes, down Burma Road, and up Lazy Mountain to visit families, so I do know the terrain. Families without reliable transportation or funds for gas may still be unable to get their children to these bus stops.

School boundaries are another way to address bus mileage. I believe this has already been researched to some extent, but it might be that it can be "tweaked" a little more. Boundaries are set up to address the criteria of distance to school, the school's enrollment, and families with multiple children. Enrollments are supposed to balance so one school is not too overcrowded while another school is under utilized.

Busing high school students only to school has been suggested for core area schools as many students are involved in after-school activities or work. There are issues and "burdens" with having unsupervised youth in our communities after school. Young people "hang out" if they do not go home or engage in activities. Our communities have few resources to provide supervision for youth on a daily basis.

It is possible that M.A.S.C.O.T. might be able to provide some services, but that still costs money, and again the children without resources may be hurt the most.

All citizens of the borough are impacted by the transportation issues that the school district faces. A "needs assessment" or survey instrument is a good way to find out what people want, are willing to do, and what they are willing to pay for. In the end, all of us will pay for the decision. If we choose to reduce busing and do not have alternatives some of our children will suffer. These children are our future.

Until a study is completed and/or other options are implemented, I believe we need to continue to lobby for support for bus transportation for our children to attend school in the Mat-Su Borough. Attendance is vital to learning. Learning is the key to success.

Sarah R. Welton is a candidate for Seat B on the Mat-Su Borough School District.