"Parents of Albemarle County students could be the first in the state to pay for bus service to and from school.

A fee for busing is one of several ideas the School Board is considering as it seeks new revenue during tight financial times.

Other ideas under consideration are athletics fees as well as increases in fees for use of school facilities by non-school groups.

Students currently do not have to pay to take the bus to and from school or to participate in after-school athletics. But state law does not require school divisions to provide transportation for students.

Last week, the School Board finalized a $151.7 million budget request, a total that is projected to exceed revenues by at least $1.9 million. The Board of Supervisors will consider that request as part of its deliberations on the tax rate, which will likely be set in April.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Kenneth Boyd does not believe a bus fee would be an appropriate mechanism for the School Board to use to balance its budget.

“I don’t think it’s a very good idea,” Boyd said. “There are other areas that could be cut. The School Board is getting more money this year than it did last year. It just doesn’t have enough to cover all the things it wants to do.”

A bus fee could come as a shock to parents who are used to free busing. School Board Chairman Brian Wheeler said there would be a public engagement process before any fee was implemented.

“We would explain to parents why we are having to do this,” he said.

School officials have not yet looked at how bus or athletics fees would be implemented.

“Nothing has been fleshed out,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler added that, if such fees were created, exemptions would likely be made for economically disadvantaged students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

Jackson Zimmerman, the school division’s fiscal services director, said that bus and athletics fees would not be necessary in an ideal situation. But, he added, the division is facing less than ideal budget conditions.

“These are not nice things to do but they are things that might have to be done,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman could not estimate how much money could be raised through bus and athletics fees.

“That would depend on what the expectations of the board are,” he said.

Zimmerman said that an athletics fee is a more attractive option than cutting athletics programs.

The idea for bus fees emerged from discussions about the Resource Utilization Study’s transportation recommendations, Wheeler said.

Transportation issues featured prominently in the study, a review of the division recently conducted by the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute.

The study found several ways in which the division could improve the efficiency of its transportation system, including filling the director of transportation position; upgrading the student tracking system; using smaller buses for rural routes with fewer students; eliminating some bus stops; and shortening some bus routes.

Carol Hastings, Albemarle principal leader for transportation services, said the process to implement those recommendations is under way.

“I definitely do think that we could find some significant savings,” she said.

The board has discussed the possibility of requiring parents to register their children for bus service. A fee would serve as a disincentive for parents who might sign their children up even if the children do not actually need bus service, Wheeler said." (Barney Breen-Portnoy, The Daily Progress, February 16, 2008)