Trustees to Consider $180 Annual School Bus Fee

A plan to charge parents a $180 annual school bus fee will be considered tonight by trustees of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District.

The $1 per day fee for each student would help offset transportation costs in the growing district, said Steve Umber, director of transportation. The district would begin collecting the fee in September 1998.

Umber said that if trustees approve, a committee of parents and district representatives will draw up specific fee guidelines, such as whether to offer discounts to families with more than one child.

Students who receive a free or reduced-price lunch would be eligible for a fee waiver.

Besides the fee, trustees also expect to vote on changing busing boundaries. The proposal would enlarge the walking distance area around each school, reducing the number of bus riders.

Instead of measuring the distance between a home and school along streets, the distance would be calculated in a straight line, Umber said. The distance for junior highs (1 3/4 mile) and high schools (2 3/4 miles) would not change. The distance for elementary schools would drop from 1 1/4 to 1 mile.

The new system would remove about 40 middle and high school bus stops as of January and about 40 elementary stops as of September 1998.

Umber said the fee and boundary changes would ease overcrowding on buses and postpone the need to buy new vehicles.

Trustees meet tonight at 7 at the Education Services Center, 4999 Casa Loma Ave., Yorba Linda. Information: (714) 996-2550.