County School Buses for Private Schools

[Anonymous]

This pisses me off. Busing is fine, but not subsidized. And at least one of these schools has s long term lease on much needed mcps school building while our kids are in trailers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This pisses me off. Busing is fine, but not subsidized. And at least one of these schools has s long term lease on much needed mcps school building while our kids are in trailers.

Yes, but unfortunately, the alternative is more traffic.

[Anonymous]

I have 1 kid in private and 1 in MCPS and I love driving my daughter to and from school. I highly doubt most parents are going to do this. You still have to drive them to a "bus stop" and wait there. Might as well just drive them all the way.

Same with my public school kids. I could walk them to the bus stop 45min before school starts or spend more time in the morning with them and drive them the half mile to school 5 minutes before school starts. If the morning is bright and warm, we walk and go to the playground first. We have a semi-busy road that gives us a bus. It is a total waste of time/energy IMO

[Anonymous]

^2 in MCPS, not 1. Sorry

[Anonymous]

I don't have an issue with the county selling its services for a profit but when we lost bus service from our house that had been provided to up till last year, I think its lousy what they are doing. First provide or the kids going to public schools.

[Anonymous]

"Officials said that the initiative will not divert any resources from Montgomery’s school system, which uses 1,137 buses to serve about 100,000 students each school day.

The idea is to use buses that are idle during gaps in the school system’s daily bell schedule. In the mornings, that would be a window of about 30 minutes between the first middle school bell at 7:55 and the 8:50 start time for many elementary schools."

Every one of those private school kids is one fewer in overcrowded public schools. Be grateful they are getting bussed elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Take a look at the traffic on River Road past Holton Arms school on any weekday morning at 8:30 AM. MCPD has been parking a cruiser on the shoulder coming down the hill westbound, presumably to prevent people from pushing past on the shoulder before the right turn lane begins. That is costing the county actual $$$ for the cruiser and officer's time, so there would be a definite benefit to the county in helping take cars off the road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 1 kid in private and 1 in MCPS and I love driving my daughter to and from school. I highly doubt most parents are going to do this. You still have to drive them to a "bus stop" and wait there. Might as well just drive them all the way.

Same with my public school kids. I could walk them to the bus stop 45min before school starts or spend more time in the morning with them and drive them the half mile to school 5 minutes before school starts. If the morning is bright and warm, we walk and go to the playground first. We have a semi-busy road that gives us a bus. It is a total waste of time/energy IMO

^^^an example of this: "In 2009, American families drove 30 billion miles and made 6.5 billion vehicle trips to take their children to and from schools, representing 10-14 percent of traffic on the road during the morning commute."

http://saferoutespartnership.org/resourcecenter/quick-facts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a terrible idea. MCPS can't afford to add buses so high school students aren't catching the bus at 6:20 am, but they can afford to subsidize 80 percent of the cost to bus private school kids? It feels like another example of MCPS and the county paying more attention to wealthier families.

. These parents are paying for public school and yes, buses via their tax dollars and not utilizing the system. Do you have a problem with your kids receiving that benefit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a terrible idea. MCPS can't afford to add buses so high school students aren't catching the bus at 6:20 am, but they can afford to subsidize 80 percent of the cost to bus private school kids? It feels like another example of MCPS and the county paying more attention to wealthier families.

. These parents are paying for public school and yes, buses via their tax dollars and not utilizing the system. Do you have a problem with your kids receiving that benefit?

Public schools are supported (mainly) by taxes, not user fees. If private-school students have a right to use public school buses because their parents pay taxes that go to the public schools, then so does everybody else who pays taxes that go to the public schools. Instead, it works like this:

1. Everybody pays taxes to support the public schools.
2. Public school funding goes to children in public schools (with a few exceptions).

One exception is when the public school cannot provide a free, appropriate education, and so the public school district pays for the child to go to a private school. Another exception, arguably, is when society benefits from busing private-school students because busing private-school students takes cars off the road.

[Anonymous]

How do you get around the practical problem that private school kids can live all over the place? Do you have satellite stops? Do you have a requirement that a neighborhood needs x number of kids from a certain school to get bus service? Would this change from year to year?

If this is for traffic congestion, should the county foot the bill instead of MCPS?

I have two concerns. First, private school parents can go elsewhere, but they should not impose a burden or extra cost on public schools for their choices. Bussing a kid from Olney or Poolsville to Georgetown Prep seems like a burden to me. Second, didn't we just hear about how HS kids have to wake up early because we don't have enough busses to move school start times back? How does this proposal impact HS school start times?

[Anonymous]

Yes, satellite stops. And yes, the county is footing the bill.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/montgomery-to-test-using-public-buses-for-private-schools-aiming-to-reduce-traffic/2014/10/08/40048c74-4e77-11e4-8c24-487e92bc997b_story.html

The article talks about bell times, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son takes a public school bus to his private school but we pay a fee.

I think this is fair. If you're opting out of public, your child loses a spot. So it's only fair to pay an additional fee, as the county is paying to transport your child to another school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 1 kid in private and 1 in MCPS and I love driving my daughter to and from school. I highly doubt most parents are going to do this. You still have to drive them to a "bus stop" and wait there. Might as well just drive them all the way.

Same with my public school kids. I could walk them to the bus stop 45min before school starts or spend more time in the morning with them and drive them the half mile to school 5 minutes before school starts. If the morning is bright and warm, we walk and go to the playground first. We have a semi-busy road that gives us a bus. It is a total waste of time/energy IMO

Not all parents have to drive their kids to a stop.

The bus comes to our door, as I have two in elementary. Once they start middle/high, they will walk down the street to wait at a stop. The walk will take 5 minutes at most. It all depends on where your house is.

Furthermore, not all parents have the option of driving their kids to school due to their work schedule. Your schedule is a luxury, and I'm assuming that you either have a flexible work schedule or you don't work at all.

[Anonymous]

We pay for our bus service and it isn't cheap. We also drive to a bus stop that is central to a critical mass of families. This is the first year we have had bus service and I am very thankful for it and happy to pay for it. Our school uses its own buses.