ALACHUA COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) is eliminating some bus routes effective Jan. 8 which will force hundreds of students to either walk to school or their parents to scramble to figure out an alternate solution.
ACPS says the changes are coming due to the ongoing shortage of bus drivers and the negative impact on bus schedules and school attendance.
In a release on Tuesday, the district said, “The goals of the changes are to significantly reduce late and non-arriving buses, increase on-time arrivals and departures, and use public funds more effectively.”
The district says it’s eliminating ‘courtesy’ bus routes for all students except those attending the highest needs elementary schools starting Jan. 8. ‘Courtesy’ buses are defined as those provided to students who live within two miles of their zoned school and are not Exceptional Student Education (ESE) students. The district estimates about 1200 students currently receive courtesy busing.
The district says courtesy routes require 16 buses at an annual price tag of about $1.8 million. They say the district does not receive state reimbursement for providing that transportation.
Instead of courtesy busing, the district says it will offer parents the opportunity to request transportation if their student’s walk to school meets the state’s legal definition of a ‘hazardous walking condition.’ They say information on the application process will be provided to the parents of courtesy riders in the near future.
The district says it will also be revamping the current system for transporting more than 1600 students who attend magnet and other choice programs not located at their zoned school. “The current ‘hub’ stops at which buses stop to pick up those students will be updated to increase efficiency and reduce the number of buses needed to transport magnet/choice students,” said the district. The revised magnet/choice changes will also go into effect January 8.
Currently the district says it runs 26 magnet/choice buses at a cost of about $1.8 million.
School officials say making these changes will save the district between $750,000 and $1.4 million per year, not including the cost of bus drivers. The district does not plan to eliminate bus driver positions. Instead, the district says this means there should be enough drivers to fill routes that don’t currently have a permanent driver and fill in for absent drivers.
The district says it’s looking at other possible strategies to improve the efficiency of its transportation system, including the recruitment and retention of drivers. They also say school start times may be adjusted in future years to reduce delays and to comply with a new state law.
The district leaders will present the changes at a school board workshop on Sept. 20 at 9 a.m. They say this will be informational only as the board does not vote on bus route changes.
The district says it sent information out about these changes to the families of bus riders and will provide more details about magnet, choice and courtesy riders in the near future.