Critics also are concerned about the long-term effect of the reductions on academic achievement. State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell fears that less bus service will mean lower school attendance, particularly for families struggling economically.
"It's a question of our priorities as a state and as a society," O'Connell said. "Realigning bus routes . . . can potentially contribute to lower attendance and a higher dropout rate. What effect does that have on our society? People less prepared to become productive members of your community and more crime."
School district officials say the situation will get worse unless the state provides more funding for transportation.
Mike Patton, Capistrano Unified's director of transportation, said the district had to kick in several hundred dollars for each child who rode a bus, in addition to state funding and parents paying $400 for annual bus passes. Subsidizing so many students was no longer tenable, he said.
"If the funding is not fixed for home-to-school transportation, eventually home-to-school transportation will cease to exist in California," he said. "We are a direct encroachment into the general fund. We compete with classroom dollars and teachers' salaries and textbooks. Every year, we encroach more and more. The only way to control it is to stop providing service."
--
seema.mehta@latimes.com
