PLATFORM : Cutting Back and Endangering Children
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Five thousand of 23,000 yellow school buses used by California children are unsafe. They do not meet federal safety standards adopted nearly 15 years ago. Schools do not have the funds to replace these vehicles. The State of California has taken some steps to get these unsafe buses off the road through the Safe School Bus Clean Fuel Efficiency Demonstration Program. Still, it would take $450 million.
Finding money for bus replacement is difficult because school transportation is a “money-losing” activity for school districts. The average school district is reimbursed for only one-half of the costs of operating transportation programs. Each year school districts must look for ways to cover their transportation operating deficits, including cutting back needed instructional programs. This is in addition to trying to find funds to replace old buses.
The underfunding of school transportation may, over time, jeopardize the buses’ admirable safety record by forcing continued use of buses that ought to be replaced.
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