It’s not clear how approximately 1,500 younger Fairfax County Public School students will be getting to school this fall.
The school board voted Thursday to approve Superintendent Michelle Reid’s proposal to provide free bus transportation to 69 high school students, but not middle and elementary school students affected by last month’s school boundary changes.
Under the school district’s school boundary rewrite, 1,637 of the county’s 177,000 current students would be rezoned to attend new schools.
The school board’s phase-in policy allows students in their final two grades of elementary, middle and high schools to choose between going to their new school or remaining in their current school.
Reid told school board members that, given tight budget constraints, she recommended funding to transport the only 69 high school students who chose to remain where they are.
Reid told board members it would cost FCPS $3.1 million to provide transportation for all students who choose to stay at their current school. By contrast, transporting only the affected high school students would cost $241,386.
Reid’s recommendation passed with a 7-4 vote.
‘Unnecessarily stressful’ for younger students
With the school board’s vote, approximately 1,500 students and their families in elementary and middle schools are faced with having to drive students to school, or move to their newly-zoned school, and receive free bus transportation.
“We cannot prioritize our older students to the detriment of our younger students, who need our transportation and the safety that provides more than our older students,” said At-Large board member Ryan McElveen.
Board member Ricardy Anderson, of the Mason District, argued that the county should prioritize transportation, rather than other projects: “I see this as giving food to somebody who’s hungry, but yet we’re putting it in a tree that’s 20 feet high, and unless they’re able to levitate themselves or they have a ladder, they cannot access this.”
“Voting to strip transportation to those eligible is damaging to the credibility of this board and this school division,” said Hunter Mill District representative Melanie Meren. “Can you see the headlines already? ‘School board denies school buses to students.'”
School Board Vice Chair Robyn Lady, of the Dranesville District, was one of the majority supporting Reid’s priorities.
“I support paying for transportation for all high school students because they face the most complex transitions regarding credits and graduation, and where the stakes are higher,” Lady said.
“We are currently facing a $43 million budget gap between our needs and the projected funding from the state and our Board of Supervisors, and in this climate, we must prioritize.”
Meren suggested the board find the money to pay for bus transportation for all students affected by the rezoning.
“The kids waiting today to know what high school they’re going to,” Meren said. “That’s not how I want to do business, and I think it’s unnecessarily stressful.”
Reid acknowledged concerns that some students would have to leave the familiar security of schools near where they live or have parents be required to provide transportation, which would introduce new inconvenience.
“Often, many things can be true at the same time, right? All of the ideas are outstanding ideas. We just are not going to be able to fund all of them,” Reid said.
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