Antelope Valley Board OKs Student Bus Fees in Effort to Cut Deficit

Against a backdrop of news that its budget deficit has grown yet again, the governing board of the Antelope Valley Union High School District has imposed fees for student bus service starting next month that will cost families up to $395 a year.

Under a plan approved Wednesday night, a $100-per-student annual fee for home-to-school busing, with a limit of $200 per family, will be levied when the school year begins Sept. 14. Separate bus fees for students participating in extracurricular activities will cost families up to $195 a year.

The home-to-school busing fee is expected to affect about 2,000 of the district’s 11,500 students and raise about $200,000 a year. The activity busing fees are expected to affect thousands of additional students and generate about $210,000 annually, district officials said.

The school board reluctantly voted 5 to 0 for the fees after learning that the financially ravaged district--which had already slashed spending to cope with a shortage of about $12 million, 23% of its prior-year budget--now faces an additional, unexpected budget shortfall of $1.7 million due to more budgeting errors. It was at least the fourth time this year that the board had discovered that the deficit was larger than previously estimated.

The news is the latest in a series of jolts stemming from several years of poor financial management, district officials have conceded. The revelations led to the departure earlier this year of the district’s two top financial officials, and to the removal two weeks ago of Supt. Kenneth Brummel in a $100,000 contract buyout.

In the coming school year, classrooms are expected to be packed with up to 50 students per class, services will be cut because about 100 clerical and support personnel have been laid off, employees will receive across-the-board pay cuts, extracurricular programs will be reduced, and parents will have to pay the busing fees.

A district committee that recommended the fees said it recognized “the financial burden placed on families.” The committee added: “The assessment of fees for transportation services is not a desirable situation but far preferable” to the possibility of eliminating all bus service.

During a 45-minute hearing, school board members said little, and only a handful of people testified, some in favor and others against. Nearly 100 people, however, attended a district public hearing last week, persuading the committee to reduce the $150 annual home-to-school fee that it had originally proposed.

Busing fees for school activities such as sports will vary. A student in an activity that involves four to seven trips a year will pay $45, or $65 for an activity with eight or more trips. But the family maximum will be $195 a year.

The fees are expected to cover all of the district’s activity busing costs, but only about 13% of its home-to-school busing costs. Under state law, low-income and handicapped students will be exempt from the busing fee. But the law does not require free school bus service for others.

In other district developments:

* The district scheduled a special board meeting for Wednesday to consider how to deal with the added $1.7-million shortfall and to interview several potential candidates for the job of interim superintendent, a search that could take from five to seven months.

* The school board voted 5 to 0 to approve a new three-year contract with its more than 400 teachers, imposing a 7% pay cut for the coming school year, adding a required $300 annual employee contribution for health insurance, and increasing deductibles and co-payments.

* The school board proposed extending repayment of an $8-million loan the district received from county school officials to prevent bankruptcy. The one-year loan was to be repaid by next June, but district officials now consider that impossible and are seeking an additional year.