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Pinellas School Board Considers Altering Bus Routes

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 2, 2008

LARGO - With the student population in Pinellas County schools expected to plummet by 10,000 in five years, school administrators today put forth a range of cost-cutting proposals, including cutting and shortening bus routes.

One plan, broached at a Pinellas School Board workshop this afternoon, would cut off school transportation for any elementary or middle school student who attends a school other than his or her zoned school. For instance, the parent of a student in a special program outside the student's zone would have to provide transportation.

Under another plan, transportation would be denied to so-called grandfathered students – those who don't attend their zoned school but rather one designated under the school choice program, which is no longer in effect.

"Do we spend our money on buses or do we spend our money on making our schools better?" school Superintendent Julie Janssen asked the school board.

Some school board members wondered aloud which students would be affected most by the proposed transportation changes. School board member Linda Lerner said poor students, whose parents often don't have the luxury of transporting them, would lose out.

"People in higher socio-economic brackets have the kinds of jobs … to be able to transport their kids," she said.

School board Chairwoman Peggy O'Shea suggested school administrators determine the ramifications if any elementary school child who goes to a school outside his or her zoned school can't take the bus.

The other cost-cutting measure discussed was the proposed closure of a half-dozen elementary schools. No final decisions on either transportation or school closings were made. The school board is expected to discuss the proposed measures at a school board meeting Dec. 9.

The schools the board is considering closing are Palm Harbor Elementary, Gulf Beaches Elementary, North Ward Elementary, Kings Highway Elementary and Rio Vista Elementary. The board had already agreed to close a sixth, Clearview Elementary.

If the plan is approved, the six schools would be shut down at the end of this school year, said Jim Madden, assistant superintendent of student assignment. The proposed closings would save about $4.2 million.

Administrators are attempting to shave $40 million from a budget of roughly $1.5 billion. The proposed transportation changes would save anywhere from $1.8 million to $11.9 million, depending on which plan, if any, the board chooses.

The population of students from kindergarten to the 12th grade was 111,483 in the 2005-06 school year but is expected to drop to roughly 98,000 students in 2011-12, school administrators have said.

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