News

Safe busing for religious schools a concern in state budget

Wisconsin Catholic Conference

The Joint Committee on Finance on May 15 defeated a motion limiting transportation funds for nonpublic school students.

Motion #257, proposed by Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), would require school districts to provide transportation payments to families with several children attending independent or religious schools as if the family had only one child at the school - a significant change from currently. With an 8-8 vote along party lines, the motion failed to garner the necessary votes to amend the state's proposed budget for 2007-09.

"The Wisconsin Catholic Conference is opposed to this measure," said John Huebscher, executive director. "It fails to ensure safe transportation for all our students and fosters an attitude of competition among our schools, rather than a commitment to cooperation."

The measure could still emerge as an issue. Rep. Sheldon Wasserman (D-Milwaukee) has said he is considering introducing the measure as an Assembly bill.

Supporters argue that school districts shouldn't have to fund transportation for each student when a group of them travel to the same place in the same vehicle. However, school districts also have groups of students traveling to the same place in the same vehicle, but receive their transportation aid from the state on a per pupil basis.

Critics worry about the legislation's effect on families who can't afford their own vehicle and use other transportation, such as the city bus, to get their children to school.

"It doesn't matter if there are two or four people in the family car. The cost is relatively the same," Huebscher said. "But when a family rides the same city bus to school, each person incurs a cost."

Several efforts have recently been made to limit the ability of independent and religious students to attend school safely. AB 165 would eliminate transportation for nonpublic four-year-old kindergarteners if a district's public schools do not offer four-year-old kindergarten.

The Madison Metropolitan School District announced, as part of its budget proposal, that it would no longer provide busing for Catholic school students in the coming school year. Catholic school families who use busing in Madison will instead be given a transportation allotment, contracts that the Wasserman proposal would limit.

"Many people don't realize that transportation for nonpublic students has been a decided issue in Wisconsin for over 40 years," said Huebscher. "It's a legal right."

Article I, Section 23, of state constitution states that nonpublic school students are entitled to school transportation as a matter of safety and welfare. Wisconsin law also mandates that school districts provide transportation for any pupil in the district, including those who attend nonpublic school.

For parents and communities, the safety of students traveling to and from school is a priority. A 2002 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report found that students are nearly eight times safer in a school bus than in their parents' or guardians' cars.

"We're concerned these measures give school districts incentive to replace safe busing with cheaper, more dangerous alternatives," Huebscher said. "These measures also fail to recognize the contributions that nonpublic schools and their students, staff, and parents make to the local education system. It leaves parents with fewer options and fewer dollars to pay for those options."