Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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No high school busing: What happens downtown?
Downtown is really in a pickle thanks to the defeat of Dayton’s school levy.
Here’s the problem. As part of the district’s $30 million budget cut it canceled a $2.8 million contract with the Greater Dayton RTA to provide transportation for high school students.
That deal had provided 39 extra buses on the road when school was in session and set up several direct routes that picked kids up from their homes and took them right to school, keeping them out of the rest of the RTA hub-and-spoke system that requires most riders to transfer at Third and Main streets downtown. The contract also provided free RTA bus passes for those kids.
But high school busing is not a state requirement and the district says it now has to focus on academics and required services at the exclusion of almost everything else or its budget will not balance at year’s end.
RTA leaders are concerned. Without the district’s contract, kids will have to buy their own passes and ride the system through downtown to get to school. They fear up to 3,000 kids on city buses will create overcrowding.
It’s obvious this problem affects multiple stakeholders. The city, the county, the police, the schools and RTA all have an interest in not creating a bad situation at Third and Main. RTA would like to try to find a joint solution. The problem is the one thing all those stakeholders have in common is they have tight budgets.
Even a limited busing contract, say half the $2.8 million cost, could help. But who has $1.4 million to make that happen?
The story in today’s paper was cut because of space constraints. For the full story, click the “continued” link:
By Scott Elliott and Joanne Huist Smith
Staff Writers
City high school students must find their own way to school starting Aug. 6, and a potential flood of teen-agers downtown has officials scrambling for alternatives.
Following the defeat of Dayton’s school levy and a $30 million budget cut, the district cancelled a $2.8 million contract for extra public bus routes and free passes for students.
Mark Donaghy, executive director for the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority said he still hoped a more limited deal could be forged. Losing the school contract will cut RTA’s budget by 12 percent, likely forcing layoffs and fewer buses.
“We’ve modified the contract as best we could to get the cost down. The bottom line is, the school district still needs a way to fund it,” Donaghy said.
School Superintendent Percy Mack said the district has no money to pay for RTA service. With a budget cut 16 percent, the district has must focus on academics and only fund the services that the state requires.
“You have to do the things that you’ve got to do,” he said.
Donaghy has been meeting with representatives from the city, Montgomery County, the Downtown Dayton Partnership and the business community in search of financing.
“I have told my folks to proceed as if there were a modified contract,” Donaghy said. “We’ll be prepared to implement it and we’ll be prepared not to implement it.”
Donaghy said he’s worried about overcrowding on buses and at bus stops. About 3,000 high school students rode RTA buses to school last year. Donaghy said that even if all bought RTA’s most expensive pass, only 12 of the 39 buses that took kids to school last year could go back in service.
“Our existing service doesn’t have the capacity to move these kids to where they need to go,” Donaghy said. “Students will be competing for seats with adults.”
Mack said his concerns are truancy, absenteeism and concentrating kids in downtown, a key RTA transfer point. Last year’s deal raised the contract cost but put more kids on direct routes that avoided transfers.
“We go the results we wanted,” Mack said. “When we had the availability to fund it, we did and a lot of issues went away.”
(Image credit: Jim Noelker, DDN)
Permalink | Comments (10) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By Laura
July 18, 2007 12:28 AM | Link to this
Teacher Teacher you are correct in that DPS has been turned into a freebie district. However, to a lesser extent so have a lot of other schools. Most schools have reduced if not free lunches based on income of the family. With regards to busing however, there are not very many schools anywhere in the country where the students do not receive free transportation to school. As far as the parents finding a way to other activities, that really isn’t the point. Few students have control over the choices their parents make. This is one situation where I do not want to give students an excuse to skip school. Lack of transportation is a reality for a lot of students. The courts may have ruled in favor of the schools regarding their responsibilities to get the students to school, but this is one time I think they are wrong. I want to see every single student in school every day for 13 years because I don’t want to help support them or suffer the consequences of their lack of education. I don’t want them to have any excuse.By Anne
July 17, 2007 11:23 PM | Link to this
TB, No one won, but our children have, without a doubt, lost. You are right, if those who voted no would use their voices at boatd meetings, changes might begin. If the media would stop reporting that “because the levy failed” cuts are being made; and instead report about the waste, even more could change. If the public looked closely at board minutes, if the press would start sharing the reports that show that the Admin has cut teacher staff, but not human resource staff, that the Admin is still spending thousands a month on travel, hotels… then the community might stand up to the board, make them put children first. But Dr. Mack has not made cuts in his media relations team, they are still enjoying their comforts. The children, the teachers, the parents, and the city will pay dearly. And for those of us who are ill because we see what is really going on; what can the few who will speak do(?) when the masses are too busy, too beaten down to join in ?By TB
July 17, 2007 8:40 AM | Link to this
Anne: To a certain extent you are right. But I’ve sat in board meetings where attendance was few at best. If the majority of the people who voted down the levy were at these board meetings protesting, demanding accountability, putting up as good of a fight as they did voting ‘no’ then how could the board have gotten as far outta whack as they have? They can only do as much as we let them get away with. The bottom line is in the time since the levy failed, DPS Admin still has not changed. The cuts came from the bottom which is going to affect the kids….same as the Admin tried to tell everyone what was going to happen before the vote. So now my question to you is who won?By Anne
July 16, 2007 12:49 AM | Link to this
TB, this is not the fault of the people who voted down the levy. If the administration hadn’t spent over 20 Million dollars on TWO buildings downtown, there would have been money for busing, and art classes, and music… The community needs to force those who caused this problem by mismanagement of funds to step up and admit their failures before they are given new funds to squander.By teacher teacher
July 16, 2007 12:45 AM | Link to this
The issue here is the fact that students and parents in the DPS system have always gotten a hand-out and that’s what’s expected. The reality is that the students are receiving a free public education, discounted or free lunches, supplies given to them, and access to free college money. Priorites is the word of the day. Because the parents don’t value education the students don’t. The parents find transportation to the clubs, bingo halls, and everywhere else they want to go, so they do have the ability to take their child to school. We need to stop making excuses for people and their lack of values. It is not my responsibility to pay for someone else’s lack of values and misplaced priorities. Make these parents responsible. Educators know this first hand. Maybe this will actually help parents to value their child’s education because everything in life is not free!!!By Laura
July 15, 2007 2:10 AM | Link to this
I hardly think a student who is not old enough to drive or has no transportation; who lives on the other end of a large city the size of Dayton is expecting a handout when he wants a ride to school. We are not talking about neighborhood schools. We are not talking about an affluent district where parents can afford to buy their child a car. We are not talking about a middle income neighborhood where many moms are stay-at-home. Most of all, we are not talking about a majority of parents who value education and who will make every effort to get their child to school. These children don’t need one more reason not to come to school. But I don’t fault DPS on this one. It is really the fault of the legislature to have such a loophole in the rules that even allows this to happen. Every child should be guaranteed access to school. We do not live in the 19th or early 20th century!By Michele
July 14, 2007 9:52 AM | Link to this
To Rick… I don’t think you know what you are saying… You seem to come from a totally different value and economic system than some of the DPS families. You don’t fully understand the people DPS staff serve. A lot of the families of DPS don’t appreciate the need for quality education. Many DPS families struggle to provide a clean, safe home enironment with regular meals for their children. Their basic needs are not met. Just what consequences do you think would have an impact on these families??? Forcing them into truancy court or jail? Missing another day of work because their child made another bad decision? (Some kids get brutally beaten.) Not to mention that Ohio funds the schools based on student attendance. In a district with financial woes, poor attendance will further compound the problems. I am not making excuses for anybody… I am talking about the reality of how some people live. You should find a DPS school to volunteer in- and see the poverty first hand. It might shock you. It did me.By Rick
July 13, 2007 6:09 PM | Link to this
Well, D.T., if the students don’t come to school that is their choice. Choices have consequences. I hope you emphasize that there are consequences and that they need to be responsible for themselves instead of waiting for a handout.By D.T.
July 13, 2007 7:58 AM | Link to this
I’m glad this article is here. As a DPS high school teacher this was one of my main concerns about the levy failing from the start. Several of my students have flat out told me that they just won’t come to school if they can’t make it for free. This is especially true for students who don’t attend neighborhood schools. This is going to be a major problem!By TB
July 12, 2007 2:22 PM | Link to this
I guess nobody saw this coming? Get real. How else are the students supposed to get to school? Oooh I know, lets get those who voted down the levy to transport one or two students (not their own) to school everyday! Otherwise, Downtown will just have to DEAL WITH IT!! This is what happens when you dont vote or dont vote in support of school levies