Hartford to Continue Busing Suburban Students
State Comes Up With $3 Million in Funds
By AMANDA RAUS
Updated 10:59 PM EDT, Tue, Nov 17, 2009
On Tuesday night, the Hartford Board of Education tabled a decision on whether or not to cancel busing for the district's suburban students who attend Hartford’s magnet schools. The state has come up with the $3 million dollars needed to sustain the transportation program.
There are 2,200 suburban students bused into Hartford’s magnet schools each day. They come from more than 40 surrounding communities and are bused in to help the city comply with the landmark Sheff vs. O’Neill case that requires desegregation in schools. Hartford school officials had complained it was costing the district too much money. It costs about $3,000 to transport one student, but the state only gave Hartford $1,400 per student. That left Hartford footing a $3.3 million bill.
Now, someone else will be picking up the tab.
"We just got the census figures for magnet school participation in the past couple days, it was lower than anticipated. We have a $3 million savings and we're going to apply that $3 million savings to transportation for the Hartford region magnet schools," said State Rep. Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, who serves as the Education Committee Chair.
"Essentially what's going to happen is that CREC, the Capitol Region Education Council, will be taking over the bus contract for the remainder of the school year. We have enough to keep it going till around the end December," said David Medina, spokesman for Hartford Public Schools.
Many parents are relieved the funding has come in and transportation for their children will not be canceled.
"We don't live in Hartford, so I mean, this transportation thing was a really big thing for us because without it my daughter would not be able to go to school period," said Patrice Anderson.
They also say the fight for funding is not over. They are glad the dollars came in this year, but want to see funding extended for years to come.
"What are we going to do for the next three years? He's a freshman in high school now, so what am I supposed to do for the next three years?" said Robin Williams.
Lawmakers say the budgets are made every year, so they'll have to tackle next year's budget next year. Hartford school officials are optomistic that leaders will remember what happened during these negotiations and plan accordingly for next time.
First Published: Nov 17, 2009 5:30 PM EDT
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