North County : 100 Parents, Children Protest Higher Bus Fees

About 100 parents and children protested a proposed bus fee increase in the Orange Unified School District by walking two miles to Crescent Elementary School in Anaheim Friday.

The annual fee ranges from $110 to $302.50--depending on the number of children in each family--and protesters claim it may force children to walk through dangerous areas without sidewalks, or even withdraw from school altogether.

Orange Unified School District officials, however, say the state has never guaranteed school transportation. In addition, the estimated $250,000 raised by increased bus fees could be used to help rectify a barely balanced district budget in fiscal 85-86 which featured cuts in library programs and high school recreational activities.

The fee for one child riding the bus round-trip during the school year is $110. For a second child, an annual pass is also $110, dropping to $55 for a third child and $27.50 for a fourth. Any additional children are not charged.

School board members will take a final vote on the issue Monday at 7:30 p.m.

“We’ve been trying to get them to consolidate schools here to save money, but they backed out of that,” said Susan Scollick, a member of the Citizen’s Steering Committee for Better Schools, based in Orange. “Our feeling is, why should one sector of the community have to pay when others don’t?

“It’s not an issue of kids walking a mile to school. We’re talking five or six miles. As for fees, if you have one kid it’s not a hardship. But $302.50 for a family with four kids is a lot of money to spend.”

Scollick said she knows of some parents in the Silverado Canyon area who won’t send their children to school if fees are increased. “We all want to avoid situations where kids of parents who can’t afford bus fees end up hitchhiking along dangerous roads,” she said.

H.C. Tanner, assistant superintendent of business services, said busing costs the district $500,000 a year despite $1.1 million provided by the state.

The district is required by law to charge less or provide free services for children in low-income families. “That means for a family of four, when their whole source of income is below $13,260, their children would ride free,” he said.