Worried parents have appealed to the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District to restore its bus service.

Carmen Perez was one of three parents to ask the Board of Education last week to renew the bus service that was eliminated as part of 2009-10 district-wide budget cuts.

Perez told the board she was concerned both for the children and their parents. She said she was worried that children could get into trouble on the long walks to and from school. She also said she knew of some parents who were choosing to forgo work in favor of transporting their children to school.

Those sentiments were echoed by two other parents.

The district cut service this year to students who live within

3.5 miles of its schools. The previous perimeter was 2 miles.

By increasing the perimeter, the district essentially eliminated bus service for students who live in town, which saved about $200,000.

According to Diane Bennett, assistant superintendent for business services, the district still provides bus service to all disabled and special education students and students from the Tanglewood area southwest of town, because there is no safe way to walk from that neighborhood to any of the high schools.

Students from Guadalupe, Tepesquet and Los Alamos are still bused to Righetti High, as well.

Pioneer Valley High School, on the far northeastern edge of the city, is the school that receives the most requests for restored bus service.

"Transportation has been provided for years but hasn't been reimbursed (by the state)," Bennett explained. "When considering budget cuts, we have to cut the services that are farthest from the classroom and services that won't pay for themselves."

In the Santa Maria High School district, those services included transportation.

While it was considering cutting transportation for the 2009-10 school year, district staff determined attendance figures at Pioneer Valley High School would be a key indicator of the effectiveness of the decision.

"The one thing that we were fearful of is that we would see a reduction in attendance," Bennett explained. "We have not seen that decline in attendance at Pioneer Valley, even though we reduced that transportation service."

Perez said she had spoken with about 200 parents and many offered to pay a fee to bring back the service. She said both Lucia Mar Unified School District and San Luis Coastal Unified School District have fee systems for their transportation services.

San Luis Coastal charges $180 per student, or $1 per day. Junior high and high school students who live 2.5 miles or more from their schools can ride the bus. Elementary school students must live 1.5 miles or more from their school to qualify for a ride.

Denise Gello, transportation supervisor with San Luis Coastal, said the fee covers only about 10 percent of the district's operating costs.

"To me, what's most valuable about it is it keeps control over what's going on," Gello explained. "In order to keep a grip on where kids are going and why, that whole system supports it."

Gello said registering students who ride the buses allows the district to better keep track of them. She also said the 2.5-mile pick-up perimeter covers nearly all of San Luis Obispo city limits, eliminating high school bus service for most of town.

Lucia Mar transports students who live 3 miles or more from high schools and 2 miles or more for junior highs and elementary schools.

Fees are $180 per student for up to two riders. There are discounts for three or more students from the same family and a $10 annual bus pass is charged on top of the transportation fees.

As with the free or reduced-fee lunch services program, students from low-income households ride school buses at reduced rates or free of charge, and that program adds another problem for the Santa Maria High School district if it were to consider a transportation fee system.

Bennett said it would cost the district approximately $90,000 per year to restore bus routes for Pioneer Valley High alone. That proposal would add four buses on morning and afternoon routes to accommodate approximately 400 students.

According to Bennett, if the district charged those 400 students to cover the $90,000 expense, it would cost each student $225 per year. If 60 percent of those 400 students qualify for free or reduced-fee services, those annual fees would more than double.

"If you do charge for transportation, you could not charge any student who qualifies for free or reduced-cost," she explained. "The students who applied for free or reduced lunch program, if they qualify for free and reduced, they are exempt from any other charges."

Dee Ringstead, principal at Pioneer Valley High, said about 75 percent of the school's students qualify for free and reduced-fee programs. If only 60 percent of the students riding buses qualified for reduced fees, annual cost for the other 40 percent would be $563 per student.

"Would parents be willing to pay that and how many parents would be able to pay that? It would be a gamble on the part of the district to run buses," she said.

October 20, 2009