The Wheels on the Bus May Stop

You could see less school buses in San Diego with budget cuts

The San Diego Unified School board has made some tough decisions to deal with a nearly $150 million budget shortfall they will experience this year. 

Like all school districts around the state, SDUSD is reacting to a nearly $9 billion cut in funding for schools.  To compensate for the fiscal crisis being handed down from the state to the local level, SDUSD is proposing raising class sizes, imposing furloughs and will charge their employees more for health care, among other measures.

But the part of all of this that will be most visible is the issue that’s causing most concern and outrage: bussing. 

Since the board made their “Plan A” public on March 10^th, parents, students, and community members voiced their opposition to cutting bussing to magnet schools.  The district says that move will save them about $10.5 million. 

At the school board meeting Tuesday night, scores of parents and students showed up waving yellow signs reading “Bring Our Buses Back”. 

“My mom can’t give me a ride. We’re not capable of doing that,” said Jose Bojorquez, a student member of the school board, to the voiceofsandiego.org. “Getting rid of magnet transportation will put many students’ dreams away,” he added.

For many, magnet schools provide students the opportunity to leave their neighborhood for instruction that specializes in a particular field of study.  Some schools have a math, science, or a tech focus, while others offer art or music programs. 

Providing buses, for some students, is the only way some students may get to a school outside a few miles radius of their home to take part in these programs. 

According to Julian Betts, a professor at UCSD who has studied magnet schools and choice programs for schools, it’s much more than a ride to school.

She told the voiceofsandiego.org: “Busing for magnets really does help level the playing field. It means that children from poorer families have a ready way to get across town to a really appealing schools.”

The Board of Education will formally adopt the budget for the upcoming fiscal year in June, but it could get worse.  Many of the cuts presented in “Plan A” earlier in March hinge on concessions that the district’s Union must agree to make. 

The district is proposing about $34 million dollars in cuts that all depend on negotiations with the Union.  Plan “B”, the district outlined, could be very bleak: cuts to arts, music, and athletic programs and layoff notices for hundreds of new teachers. 

Some information in this article can be found at: Voiceofsandiego.org, signonsandiego.com and sandi.net.