Fountain Valley : Parents Must Pay for School Bus Service

The Fountain Valley School District Board of Trustees approved a plan this week to charge parents for bus rides to school, starting this fall.

School officials said the plan, which amounts to $1 per day for each student rider, was needed to help balance a tight school budget.

“It’s unfortunate again that we have to pass on some of these costs to families,” said Supt. Ruben L. Ingram. “It’s really a reduction in services.”

At its meeting Thursday night, the trustees decided to charge $180 per year for the first student in each family to ride the bus. The fees will be reduced to $90 for a second student in the same family and $45 for a third, with additional students riding free, said Jim Sobraska, transportation supervisor.

Students will be able to buy trimester bus passes to avoid paying a lump sum for the full year. Passes of $60 for one student, $30 for a second student and $15 for the third student in the family taking the bus will be available. The district will also sell books of 20 one-way bus passes for $10. There will also be reduced fees for those families that qualify for free and reduced-priced lunches.

Ingram said the fees should generate at least $15,000 and will only cover a small portion of the district’s cost of $52,738 to bus students. He said, however, it will provide some relief to the district’s strapped budget.

The district has already been forced to cut $400,000 from its $25-million budget.

District officials also said the state Legislature could force another 5% reduction when it adopts a new budget. They said that could increase the cuts required in the budget to a total of $1.2 million.

“We have made cuts for the past 10 years,” Ingram said. “We hope the citizens begin to realize that this is not the first time that we’ve cut back.

“We’ve closed six schools in this district and laid off well over 100 certificated (teachers) and 100 classified people over 10 years. We’ve cut management personnel by 36%. So when people say, ‘Why don’t you cut your overhead?’ well, we have. We’ve been at it every year.”

A recent state Supreme Court decision allowed schools to resume charging for bus transportation, except for handicapped students.

The school district charged bus fees in the 1987-88 school year and part of the next year until a lower court challenge was lodged.