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B. Busguy33
Top Member
USA
3444 Posts |
 Posted - 04/12/2002 : 3:16:50 PM
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Which is more important: cost or student safety??
The story below tells the story of one town that needs to make budget cuts in the school budget, where school transportation will be affected.
Basically, there will have to be more and more students that must walk to school. Some of these students will be walking along busy, main-roads with sidewalks...some of which may not be in good condition.
Needless to say, the parents of these school children are not very happy about this situation at all.
Read the story for yourself at:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/100/metro/Budget_passes_as_school_bus_cuts_remain+.shtml
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This second story tells of how many districts are turning to trimming thier budgets, or adding costs to bus transportation.
Barnstable, MA (which is on Cape Cod) will be charging as much as $1,800 for students enrolled in a full-day kindergarten program. For the Stoneham public school system, it may cost as much as $400 to transport students there. Other districts are aiming towards charging sports or extra-curricular after school activites for bus services.
This story can be found by accessing this page:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/096/metro/Pay_as_you_grow+.shtml
It has been pointed out that Massachusetts will be suffering a total budget defecit of about $2 billion. As one of the articles pointed out, this is said to be some of the worst times for budgets since the early '90's and early '80's.
Hopefully, the districts in this state (and everywhere else) will not sacrifice a slashed budget for student safety. Obviously, this isn't the only place facing budget shortfalls. This is just one of the additional places that are facing budget shortcomings for this and next school year.
__________________________________________
-Bob
(a.k.a. B. Busguy33)
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BusBoy
Top Member
USA
2042 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2002 : 06:32:12 AM
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Indiana State Government has to cut money this year because the legislature and the Gov. can't come together and work a budget out! So the first thing the Gov. did was to cut money to Education and most schools are cutting the transportation budget first! Many schools are not buying new buses this year because of it!
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wagonmaster
Top Member
USA
2298 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2002 : 10:27:51 AM
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Thats a loaded question if ever I heard one! Clearly, student safety shouldn't be sacrificed. It's never a choice between safe or not safe. Having said that what do you do when there is NO money to perform certain functions? Most districts do the best they can given the parameters of their budget. Unfortunately Transportation is one of the areas looked at when costs are deemed excessive. If your district is efficient, and the school board KNOWS it, then maybe your programs live to fight another day. If your transportation department is suspect, then look for the powers that be to take some cost cutting measures. Keep those pencils sharp, and be ready to state your case as necessary!
Joe
Edited by - wagonmaster on 04/15/2002 10:29:05 AM |
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B. Busguy33
Top Member
USA
3444 Posts |
Posted - 04/15/2002 : 11:38:11 AM
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quote:
Hopefully, the districts in this state (and everywhere else) will not sacrifice a slashed budget for student safety.
Please allow me to clarify the quote written above as mentioned in my above post.
When I wrote the above statement, I intended for it to mean a lot of places that cut costs in transportation and must make more students walk to school rather than ride the bus, are sometimes unsafe areas. I was mainly referring to the first article. In that area, there are a few busy main roads and some inadequate sidewalks. I am hoping that students who now have to walk to/from school in those areas would be safe, since they cannot ride the bus.
There are other alternatives though. I suppose the students could take a taxi, or their parents can drive them to school. But, I also understand that when districts have to cut costs, they usually look at transportation first. This is not the only area facing a situation like this.
Even though these students must walk along mainroads instead of riding on a bus to and from school, I think that if the sidewalks were in good condition, the students would be safer than if they were walking on sidewalks in poor condition. Basically, that is what I was referring to when I mentioned "safety being sacrificed." Hopefully the public works department can repair those sidewalks if necessary.
Maybe I was thinking of the "perfect world" when I said that. If it was a "perfect world," then there probably wouldn't be anymore student injuries and fatalites to begin with. I could even go a step further and say that there probably wouldn't also be budget shortfalls in school districts.
I hope this somewhat clarifies what I was trying to point out.
__________________________________________
-Bob
(a.k.a. B. Busguy33)
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Rogue
New Member
5 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2002 : 08:03:15 AM
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quote:
Which is more important: cost or student safety??
The story below tells the story of one town that needs to make budget cuts in the school budget, where school transportation will be affected.
Basically, there will have to be more and more students that must walk to school. Some of these students will be walking along busy, main-roads with sidewalks...some of which may not be in good condition.
Needless to say, the parents of these school children are not very happy about this situation at all.
Read the story for yourself at:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/100/metro/Budget_passes_as_school_bus_cuts_remain+.shtml
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This second story tells of how many districts are turning to trimming thier budgets, or adding costs to bus transportation.
Barnstable, MA (which is on Cape Cod) will be charging as much as $1,800 for students enrolled in a full-day kindergarten program. For the Stoneham public school system, it may cost as much as $400 to transport students there. Other districts are aiming towards charging sports or extra-curricular after school activites for bus services.
This story can be found by accessing this page:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/096/metro/Pay_as_you_grow+.shtml
It has been pointed out that Massachusetts will be suffering a total budget defecit of about $2 billion. As one of the articles pointed out, this is said to be some of the worst times for budgets since the early '90's and early '80's.
Hopefully, the districts in this state (and everywhere else) will not sacrifice a slashed budget for student safety. Obviously, this isn't the only place facing budget shortfalls. This is just one of the additional places that are facing budget shortcomings for this and next school year.
__________________________________________
-Bob
(a.k.a. B. Busguy33)
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Rogue
New Member
5 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2002 : 08:05:35 AM
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quote:
Lest you forget my friends, when it comes to the business of education, whether it be Transportation or the classroom, POLITICS always rules the day!
Which is more important: cost or student safety??
The story below tells the story of one town that needs to make budget cuts in the school budget, where school transportation will be affected.
Basically, there will have to be more and more students that must walk to school. Some of these students will be walking along busy, main-roads with sidewalks...some of which may not be in good condition.
Needless to say, the parents of these school children are not very happy about this situation at all.
Read the story for yourself at:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/100/metro/Budget_passes_as_school_bus_cuts_remain+.shtml
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This second story tells of how many districts are turning to trimming thier budgets, or adding costs to bus transportation.
Barnstable, MA (which is on Cape Cod) will be charging as much as $1,800 for students enrolled in a full-day kindergarten program. For the Stoneham public school system, it may cost as much as $400 to transport students there. Other districts are aiming towards charging sports or extra-curricular after school activites for bus services.
This story can be found by accessing this page:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/096/metro/Pay_as_you_grow+.shtml
It has been pointed out that Massachusetts will be suffering a total budget defecit of about $2 billion. As one of the articles pointed out, this is said to be some of the worst times for budgets since the early '90's and early '80's.
Hopefully, the districts in this state (and everywhere else) will not sacrifice a slashed budget for student safety. Obviously, this isn't the only place facing budget shortfalls. This is just one of the additional places that are facing budget shortcomings for this and next school year.
__________________________________________
-Bob
(a.k.a. B. Busguy33)
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Thomas Ford 85-16
Top Member
USA
4177 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2002 : 2:03:30 PM
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I'm surprised districts are finally catching on with charging for bus service. We have always had to pay for buses when getting field trips or extracirricular activities.
Stop at: http://www.buses.cjb.net
Forums: http://thebusboy.proboards2.com
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-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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More And More Districts Are Cutting Their Budgets
