Most students stay put

MAT-SU -- Despite the fact that more than 3,000 students qualified for transportation from schools that did not meet all the No Child Left Behind requirements to schools that did, more than 99 percent of students are staying put.

Only 31 students -- or less than one percent -- actually opted for transportation to the alternate schools, a fact that, according to school administrators, points to strong parental support for their local schools.

"Parents are looking at the total picture instead of just one failed category on the Adequate Yearly Progress," said Kim Floyd, information specialist for the Mat-Su Borough School District.

Nationally, parents also tend to support their local schools while thinking less favorably of public schools generally. Educators see this as a positive indication that the more parents know about a school, the more they tend to think favorably of it.

School administrators in the Mat-Su Borough feared that more students would choose the transportation options, forcing the district to use valuable funds for more bus routes. Currently, only $55,000 out of $500,000 is being used to transport students to new schools.

Student who are new to the district have three weeks from the time they enroll to decide whether they want to transfer.

So far, the district has only added one new route and, in a few weeks, if no new students request transportation, the remaining money will go toward funding educational initiatives such as summer schools, instructional strategies, parent involvement activities and other programs that support the No Child Left Behind initiatives.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.