Free Bus Ride to School Is Not a Right, Court Rules

A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Friday that children from poor families do not have a constitutional right to free bus transportation to and from school.

The 5-4 decision in a case from North Dakota has particular importance for people in rural areas. The ruling was denounced by the dissenters for denying hope and equal opportunity to the disadvantaged.

The court’s majority, however, said North Dakota officials acted rationally and lawfully in permitting local school districts to charge busing fees.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote for the court that states generally have a free hand in deciding whether families must pay to get their children to school

“A state’s decision to allow local school boards the option of charging patrons a user fee for bus service is constitutionally permissible,” she said. “The Constitution does not require that such service be provided at all and it is difficult to imagine why choosing to offer the service should entail a constitutional obligation to offer it for free.”

The ruling is in line with earlier court decisions upholding laws that treat the wealthy and poor differently. For example, the court has upheld the use of property taxes to support public schools even though children from less affluent communities may suffer. The court has said such laws are permissible if they serve a rational purpose.

But in a dissenting opinion Friday, Justice Thurgood Marshall said: “For the poor, education is often the only route by which to become full participants in our society. In allowing a state to burden the access of poor persons to an education, the court denies equal opportunity and discourages hope.”

Justices William J. Brennan, John Paul Stevens and Harry A. Blackmun also dissented.

Reorganized Districts

North Dakota law provides free bus transportation to those living in districts that have reorganized to broaden their tax base and improve education. Only those districts that have not reorganized are allowed to charge parents for busing their children.

The law was intended to spur consolidation and assure people in reorganized districts that they would not have to pay for transportation.

The court said the law is a rational approach to encourage local school officials to reorganize.

The law was challenged by Paula Kadrmas from rural Dickinson, N.D. She said that it denied equal rights to her daughter, Sarita, because the family could not afford a $97 annual bus fee.

Paula Kadrmas has driven Sarita the 16 miles to school rather than pay the fee. O’Connor noted that meant that the family had spent more than $1,000 in 1985-86 to get Sarita to and from school.

Bus service in Dickinson is offered for a fee to elementary school students who live more than three miles from school and to high school students who live more than four miles away.

Other Decisions

In other decisions, the court:

- Severely limited states’ authority to lower the electric rates public utilities charge as a result of agreements with federal regulators. The 6-3 ruling will cost Mississippi consumers $326.5 million.

- Voted 5 to 4 to uphold an Illinois man’s murder conviction, ruling that its famous Miranda decision is sufficient to protect the rights of defendants questioned by police after they are indicted or otherwise formally charged.

- Ruled, 6 to 3, that state and federal officials may not be sued for monetary damages by people whose Social Security disability benefits were cut off unlawfully.

- By a 6-3 vote, limited the government’s broad immunity from negligence lawsuits. The court reinstated a suit by a couple shot at by a drunk, off-duty Navy medic in Maryland.

Indictment Reinstated

- Restricted the power of federal judges to dismiss criminal charges when prosecutors violate a law requiring speedy trial of defendants. The 6-3 ruling reinstated the indictment in Seattle of a man accused of cocaine trafficking.

- Relaxed the deadlines prison inmates face when seeking to appeal their cases in federal appellate court. The 5-4 decision revived the appeal of a convicted murderer serving a 50-year sentence in Tennessee.

- Ruled, 8 to 1, against a worker in California who was dropped from a race-discrimination suit against his company and labor union because of a clerical error.