Less than one third of the students estimated to be eligible for a new magnet and choice school busing program are taking advantage of it, according to numbers provided by Brevard Public Schools.
The regional busing program rolled out at the beginning of the school year. The district spent $3.7 million on new buses. Operating costs for regional busing are $1.3 million for the 2018-2019 school year.
District officials estimated last year that about 3,000 students would qualify for the program. About 1,278 students signed up. Average ridership is 957 students per day. With the School Board and the teachers’ union at an impasse over salary increases, Brevard Federation of Teachers Anthony Colucci says regional busing is an unnecessary cost for the district.
“This district is infamous for trying to offer every program under the sun and funding it with money that really should go toward teacher pay,” Colucci said Friday. “That’s exactly what they did in this situation.”
School Board member Tina Descovich said she tried twice to bring regional busing up for discussion as something that could be cut from the budget. A similar program was eliminated in 2013.
But, Descovich added, even giving teachers a 1 percent raise would cost the district about $4 million a year. The union has asked for much more than that – as much as 7.6 percent based on the current average teacher salary. District officials have said they would have to lay off employees and drastically cut costs to meet BFT’s demands.
The district and BFT are currently at an impasse. Both sides have agreed to voluntary mediation, but as of Friday no date had been set. Mediation is not binding, and the School Board has the final say on teacher contracts.
Based on the number of riders and the operating budget, regional busing is costing the district about $1,358 per student this year. The cost-per-pupil to transport students on regular bus routes was not immediately available. Overall, BPS transports some 23,000 students a day with an annual budget of $10.5 million
The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that, on average, school districts nationwide spent about $933 on transportation per student annually in 2014, the latest year for which statistics were available.
“On a cost-per-child basis, regional busing costs more per child due to the distance traveled,” BPS spokesperson Nicki Hensley said.
There are 31 regional bus routes, traversing some 1,600 miles a day, according to Hensley. The most popular routes go to West Shore High School. The least-used are those that go to South Lake Elementary.
Regional busing is an effort to provide not only convenience, but also to ensure that all students have access to special “Educational Program Opportunities” throughout the district. Those educational programs include choice schools, magnet schools and career and technical academies spread out across some 21 elementary, middle and high schools countywide.
“I would hate to see low-income students denied the opportunity to go to some of these schools,” union president Colucci said. “But they might need to limit those who qualify for those buses.”
