School Systems Ending Free Busing

[Magneto]

I hadn't heard of this before, but I am not surprised. This is going to spread and fast. I would imagine that Uncle Sam will be coming up with assistance programs for the "poor and disadvantaged".

Indiana school district mulls ending free school bus service » Recent Local News » News and Tribune

 

[jeremy]

I want a Refund of my Tax Dollars...

 

[eldirector]

Free? Or distributed cost?

Didn't Franklin already do this?

From the article:

Voters in both districts have rejected referendums in the past two years seeking property tax increases for the schools.

Hmmmm.... I think the folks in that district are taxed enough already.

 

[Suprtek]

My feeling is the local school boards should have to get permission from the local taxpayers via some form of referendum before they do something like this. In the case of Franklin township, there were many of the public that were complaining about their frivolous spending for years and they knew there was a budget crisis coming. The public also voted down 2 referendums to increase local property taxes for schools which should have let them know they needed to plan better. The removal of bus service was not just a cost issue, it was there way of "punishing" the taxpayers for refusing to give them more money. They actually have a "rainy day fund" that would have more than covered it. They just refused to use it.

 

[eldirector]

My feeling is the local school boards should have to get permission from the local taxpayers via some form of referendum before they do something like this. In the case of Franklin township, there were many of the public that were complaining about their frivolous spending for years and they knew there was a budget crisis coming. The public also voted down 2 referendums to increase local property taxes for schools which should have let them know they needed to plan better. The removal of bus service was not just a cost issue, it was there way of "punishing" the taxpayers for refusing to give them more money. They actually have a "rainy day fund" that would have more than covered it. They just refused to use it.

With any luck, those board members signed their own pink slips when they signed the "budget" changes this last year. Since the failed referendum didn't sent enough of a message, the next election cycle MUST.

Brownsburg tabled their referendum plans when the other local ones failed this last year. We need to keep an eye on them to be sure they don't stick their hand out again, smack it if they do, and vote them out if they keep it up.

 

[Suprtek]

Wanna hear a real kicker about Franklin Township? They're paying a private company to run the limited routes that some parents chose to pay for. The original plan was to lease the township buses to the private company for this purpose. Turns out that's illegal. So they "sold" the buses to them for $1 with the option of buying them back later for the same price.

 

[abnk]

Not only should they charge for transportation, they should also charge for tuition.

 

[9mmfan]

If the school board is elected, perhaps they will be out of jobs next time around. If not elected, it would be an excellent time to start a grass roots campaign.

 

[RockofStrength]

Not only should they charge for transportation, they should also charge for tuition.

And stop taxing people for a service that some of them will never use.

 

[Suprtek]

Not only should they charge for transportation, they should also charge for tuition.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of public education. My kids have never attended one. But if I'm gonna be taxed for them, they better provide what was paid for. Remove all the taxation and I don't care what they do.

 

[edporch]

Too many school districts have overdone the busing thing, and the costs are getting too high.

For example, the small town I grew up in, in NW Indiana is a case in point.

The GREAT majority of the kids live in town and could easily walk or ride their bikes to school most days.

When I was a kid, that was true, and the buses were JUST for the kids that lived in the country and a few special needs kids in town.

TODAY, this same school district that actually has less kids in it than when I was a kid, has bus routes all over town to the point that kids are being picked up to be driven just a few blocks to school.
It's absolutely RIDICULOUS!
So much money that could be used in the schools is being WASTED.


The large cites are just as bad.
Look how many $millions are being wasted to bus thousands of kids across town, when there's a perfectly good school within walking distance?

Something is gonna have to be scaled back when it comes to busing.
It's one more example of bloated budgets that we just CAN'T afford anymore.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

In Carmel we've done away with "walker" zones; bus service is available to everyone, although some of them still walk. I know my route covers some former "walker" area. Some of the costs for transportation are due to unfunded mandates handed down from on high. You should see how many "short buses" we have, and how many of the regular ones have aides. It's insane. We're required to provide transportation for kids that have no prospect of benefiting from the education we're also required to provide. The thing that's really thrown us is fuel. All the buses run on diesel now, and if you've seen how expensive that is these days... The thing is, there needs to be some more flexibility to the budgeting. It seems the school districts have some proportion that goes to building, some to transportation, some to landscaping, whatever. They can't NOT plant some trees and shift that money over to fuel for the buses, or subsidize book rental, or whatever. The trees must be planted. It's sick. I'm looking at this thing from all ways; as a taxpayer, a parent, and a driver, so I've got all the perspectives. I've just stopped trying to reconcile it; it's too perverse.

 

[jsharmon7]

I went to a school that didn't offer busing or transportation of any kind. You walked, you rode with your parents, or you rode with somebody else's parents. I don't recall it being a big deal then, people are just so entitled anymore though.

 

[Benny]

Since when has busing been "free?"

Who's donating the money/charity work?

 

[Knife Lady]

There were not always busses available when I went to school. You went to the school that was the closest to your house and you walked. Period.
The kids in the country had to ride a bus or hitch a ride. Once I got in high school then I had to ride the bus more.
Franklin Twnshp taxes are too high already. I do beleive they have the highest property tax rate in Marion County. Please correct me if I am wrong.

It should be like it used to be.

 

[Denny347]

Build sidewalks and walking to school would not be an issue. Franklin Township has zero sidewalks. When both parents work, driving them to school and picking them up every day is unrealistic. Franklin Township built schools for bus access, not 99% automobile traffic.

 

[MrsGungho]

IPS has students that could walk yet they bus them the few blocks to get to school. Some are for the reason they have to cross a busy street, ie: Washington St, yet there is no one to be a crossing guard. The ones in our neighborhood I don't understand, 4 blocks, no major street to cross but there is no sidewalk so that may be the key.

 

[mrjarrell]

Not only should they charge for transportation, they should also charge for tuition.

Charging for tuition in Indiana is unConstitutional. The state Constitution forbids it.

 

[hornadylnl]

My brother used to live in Franklin township and was paying $3600 a year in property taxes on a $180k house until the property tax cap. He said something to me awhile back about them making parents pay for bus use. He told me years ago that Franklin paid $4 million for their football field.

Until we can get our local governments in check, how do we ever plan to fix the fed? Many of us complain about the federal government and their waste but many of us support or are recipients in federal welfare grant money.

Make me king for a day and not 1 cent of tax money will be used for any sports activity in schools whatsoever. That includes coach salaries, facility or equipment costs. If the facilities already exist, it is up to the parents of the players to fund ALL aspects of that sport. IE, maintaining the facility, pay the coach if they can't find a volunteer, bus the kids to and from games, etc. If we did that, I'm sure there would be plenty of money to bus the kids back and forth to school.

And yes, a lot more kids can walk to school than already do. I live almost 10 miles from my daughter's school. My wife works in the kitchen and my daughter rides with her to school in the morning and the bus on the way home. If bussing were ended, we can make do. Since our school is surrounded by cornfields, 100% of the students require transportation by bus or parents.

 

[abnk]

Charging for tuition in Indiana is unConstitutional. The state Constitution forbids it.

I actually knew that. Funny thing, and completely irrelevant, is that I first heard it from a mentally ill person.

My point was that we, who live here, are already being charged for tuition and other costs whether we use the service or not. Make those who use it pay for it. Public schools would fail miserably because they couldn't operate within their revenue. I would fully support amending the constitution. I don't think the government should be in the education business.