Santa Barbara School District’s Parent-Pay Bus Program Stalls

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/020410_elementary_school_bus_cost/

By Giana Magnoli, Noozhawk Staff Writer

The school board votes to abandon the plan, which brought in only a fraction of expected revenue

With high costs and low revenue, the Santa Barbara School District has opted to abandon its parent-pay transportation program.

The elementary district had always offered free transportation for students at Adams, Monroe, Roosevelt and Washington schools — until this year.

Internal auditor Julie Nemes said costs for transportation are extremely high, and the district created a paid program to create revenue. Routes were not expanded under the payment program.

Nemes said revenue from the program was much less than expected because most of the applicants qualified for the exemptions from payment — including those who receive free or reduced meals, certain transfer students and some special-needs students.

Of 339 applicants, only eight requested the payment option of $250 per rider per year. Instead of the projected $25,000 in revenue from the program, only $2,000 came in — which didn’t even pay for the staff time used to process applications, Nemes said.

The Board of Education voted unanimously on Jan. 26 to discontinue the program. It plans to further discuss rider eligibility and alternatives to back-fill the revenue hole. To cut costs, the district could mandate stricter rules for riders, such as a three-mile-radius route limit.

District officials said parents who paid the fees this year will be reimbursed this month.

— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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