Conejo to Consider Student Bus Fees : Budget: The district proposal calling for an annual charge of $450 per rider is the first in the county since a court upheld such payments.

Armed with a new California Supreme Court ruling, Conejo Valley school board members will discuss a plan next week to charge $450 a year per student for home-to-school bus service.

The proposal to charge for school bus service is the first by a Ventura County school district since the California Supreme Court ruled March 16 that such fees are legal.

Officials estimate that charging bus fees would save the Conejo Valley Unified School District $437,000 a year, which would help offset a $2.8-million budget shortfall the district is facing for the 1992-93 school year. For the current school year, the district started with a $3.9-million deficit that was reduced through layoffs and program cutbacks. More layoffs are expected in the coming school year.

“We have an option,” school board member Dolores Didio said. “Do you want to pay for transportation and not have so many cuts? Unfortunately, it has come down to this point.”

More than 1,400 of the district’s 17,500 students ride buses to school, at a cost per student of about $300, officials said. To qualify for bus service, students must live a specified distance from school.

“That’s a very expensive program,” Assistant Supt. Sarah Hart said. “We only spend $5 a year on equipment and $25 on supplies for each student per year.”

School board members will take up the matter at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Westlake High School, 100 N. Lakeview Canyon Road, in Thousand Oaks. They are expected to decide April 23 whether to impose the fees.

While other large school districts in the county have expressed interest in bus fees, none have started charging them. Simi Valley school board members are scheduled to be briefed on the subject by administrators at their Tuesday night meeting, but no firm proposal has been made. Moorpark Unified School District officials said a budget advisory committee will likely consider the issue when it reconvenes later this year. Oxnard Elementary School District officials said they have made cuts in other areas and will not consider a bus fee for the 1992-93 school year.

A majority of the state’s 1,021 school districts provide bus transportation, and until the Supreme Court ruling only 5% of them charged fees.

Conejo Valley’s plan calls for charging parents $225 per semester, or about $2.50 a day. Applications, due by Aug. 10, would be sent in midsummer to families who live within the eligible busing area. Parents would have the option of paying in one, two or four payments each year.

School officials say the $450 proposed fee is based on fewer anticipated students riding buses, approximately 10% receiving free passes or discounts and a 16% increase in the district’s bus contract.

Students who meet state criteria for the free and reduced lunch program also would qualify for a free bus pass, or a 75% discount. Disabled students would continue to ride for free. Students who use buses to participate in athletic or extra-curricular activities would continue to pay $73.50 per activity.

If current school boundaries are maintained, officials estimate that 1,114 students would be bused in the 1992-93 school year. Of the 1,486 students who now ride the bus, they project that 372 would stop riding if a fee were imposed and another 143 low-income students would qualify for free or discounted rides.

Betty Roark, president of the Conejo Council PTA, said she is concerned about the effect such a fee would have on parents.

“I’m sure it will impact families in different ways. It’s sad to see,” said Roark, whose two children do not ride buses to school. “It could be a problem for working parents who can’t drive their kids to school because their schedules are different. It’s a shame that it’s come to this.”

Roark believes the real problem lies in getting more funding for schools. “We have got to make a change at the state level,” she said.

Another local parent, Therese Hughes, said she is “100% in favor” of the fees. If her two children needed to ride the bus, Hughes said she would be willing to pay.

“This is the first time in a long time the district has dealt creatively with its financial situation,” said Hughes, who ran unsuccessfully for the school board last November. “It would be fiscally irresponsible not to do this.”

School board members have scheduled three public informational meetings next week to discuss the district’s finances for the 1992-93 school year.

The meetings, which will all be held at 7 p.m., are planned for Monday at Colina Intermediate School, 1500 E. Hillcrest Drive, in Thousand Oaks; Tuesday at Los Cerritos Intermediate School, 2100 E. Avenida De Las Flores, in Thousand Oaks; and Wednesday at Sequoia Intermediate School, 2855 Borchard Road, in Newbury Park.