Gavin Newsom and state legislators are set to finalize a budget that’s flush with cash, and school leaders are calling for the state to cover the cost of buses in full. Those numbers fail to measure the strain placed on families as California’s vast wealth gap widens and concerns grow about students who do not have parents able to provide a daily ride. More than two-thirds of California’s students got a private ride to school each day while 18% walked and 2% took a city bus or other public transit, according to the survey.
Rocklin Unified in Placer County offers transportation but at a cost of $350 per student each year, though exceptions can be made for low-income families.Ĭalifornia buses a smaller share of its public school students than any other state, fewer than 9% of students compared with 33% nationwide, according to the most recent National Household Travel Survey by the Federal Highway Administration in 2017. San Juan Unified School District in Sacramento County ended its bus program for most of its 49,000 students in 2011, citing post-recession financial woes. Since state officials froze school transportation funding levels more than 40 years ago, districts across California have cut back on bus routes or ended them charged parents hundreds of dollars or urged students to take public transit instead.
Some students with disabilities or those experiencing homelessness are guaranteed free transportation under federal law, but otherwise, it’s up to local districts to provide buses. The state pays a fraction of transportation costs for schools - the same amount since 1981 - despite soaring inflation, increased demand, a sharp jump in gas prices and a projected record-high state budget surplus. Unlike some other states, California does not require school districts to provide buses, even if a student lives far from campus. “There is no way that a rural school district is able to decrease chronic absenteeism and support families who are in financial stress without running transportation services.” “If we do not provide transportation services, then our students’ ability to access education just becomes critically endangered,” Harris said. But they ultimately backed off as community sentiment became clear: Buses are a necessity. All routing and bus stop information is based on the address your school has in Synergy.When district finances were tight in 2019, school officials considered making cuts to transportation services. Please contact your student’s school if the address and contact information that appears in e-Link is incorrect. Once logged into e-Link, you will notice that the f amily identification number is first contact phone number you have given the school.Early release days: e-LINK does not provide separate transportation schedules on early release school days.Ex: A DOB of would be entered as 04152019. Enter Date Of Birth for your child (no spaces/dashes).
If the primary contact phone number is the same for all of your children, you may access all of your children’s busing information from from one log-in.)
Mission of the Department of Pupil Transportation