Some Davenport students could lose their ride to school for next year. The district is considering several cuts that would eliminate some bus routes. Right now elementary students who live within a mile and half of school have to walk or get a ride from their parents. The district wants to extend that to two miles.
School leaders also want to eliminate paid conditional bussing. That's where students who live in a walk zone can ride the bus if their parents pay a fee based on how much money they make. Bussing that takes students to after school childcare may also get the ax. Doing away with all three services would save the school $350,000.
"At some point you just have to say, we can't afford to do this anymore," said Scott Martin, Director of Operations for Davenport Community Schools.
Martin said the district can't avoid cutting bus routes any longer.
"It's a very emotional issue, unfortunately it's an issue across the country, that if a district is not looking at it today, they will be looking at it in the future because the dollars just aren't there to support it," he said.
Martin said for years the district has gone above and beyond.
"All those things that I said are either not mandated, or are not in our district policies, but they've been long accepted exceptions to our program."
For example, the state mandated elementary walk zone is 2 miles, not 1.5 miles which is the guideline the district has been using. The state also does not require schools to bus kids to their childcare provider. That has just been an additional service.
"What usually happens is either that student lives within the walk zone, the day care provider is outside or vise versa."
Martin said that equals extra bus routes, costing lots of extra money. He said he wishes the school could make sure everyone has a ride.
"We know it is going to effect people, but the only way to reduce expenses is to reduce the number of buses."
Martin said while he doesn't have exact numbers, he does expect the possible cuts will impact more than 700 students. He said the reason the district is talking about the cuts now is because if they go into effect, the district wants to give parents plenty of time to make arrangements.
There will be a community input meeting about the possible cuts Wednesday, September 19th in the Central high school cafeteria. It will be from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
