Central Bucks parents decry plan to reduce busing

Central Bucks School District officials - like others across the region wrestling with gaps in new budgets - have stirred a wave of opposition from parents with a plan to cut bus service for more than 600 students, most from elementary schools.

That would trim about $100,000 a year in gasoline and salary costs, plus the onetime replacement cost of two buses - an additional $160,000. The total would be offset by the expense of making improvements to walking routes and possibly hiring crossing guards.

About 200 people crowded into district headquarters in Doylestown Tuesday night, applauding as parents told the board that expanding the walking zone for children at four elementary schools, a middle school, and two high schools to as much as 1.5 miles was dangerous and, one said, "ludicrous."

"I understand the board's position and the concern to save money where possible," said Claudia Fischer, who has two children at Warwick Elementary School. But "please hear the parents' voices and try to protect our most precious thing - our kids - and continue busing."

Parents of elementary school students recited potential safety problems, said it was wrong to send kids out in all weather toting heavy book bags, and predicted that school parking lots would be clogged with cars dropping off children.

State law says districts do not have to bus children who live within 1.5 miles of a school. District officials said children from seven other elementary schools who live a mile or more from school already walk or are driven by parents.

The proposed changes, Superintendent Robert Laws said Wednesday, would make things more uniform by eliminating walking exceptions granted years ago when some housing developments were being built and sidewalks had not yet gone in.

The Central Bucks district, the largest suburban district in Pennsylvania, has an enrollment of about 20,000, with 23 schools and a budget last year of $276.5 million.

The budget squeeze with which it is grappling is common in local districts, as recession-related cuts in property-tax assessments, reduced income from housing sales, and low-interest earnings crimp revenues while salary and benefit costs and enrollment continue to rise.

School boards are also reluctant to raise taxes. As they approach the final stages of adopting budgets that must be in force by June 30, many districts are cutting staff, considering imposing fees for everything from parking to participation in sports and extracurriculars, increasing class sizes, and using rapidly dwindling reserves.

"We have an obligation to the taxpayers; we also have an obligation to the students," School Board President Stephen Corr said at Tuesday's meeting. "We balance those."

The district, which began budget discussions with a $7.8 million gap for next school year, still has to find more than $1 million in savings.

The board is considering eliminating 29 staff positions, closing community school and summer programs, holding back on textbook purchases, and drawing $3.8 million out of its savings account.

Those considerations didn't stop about 20 parents from fervently telling the board to look elsewhere for savings, to loud applause.

Jason Eskolsky, father of a third grader at Gayman Elementary School, put it more succinctly: "You cannot sacrifice safety for the children to save money."

Board member Christopher Asplen told the meeting, "Our first concern is the children's safety and any decision that's going to be made is only going to be done if we believe it is safe to do so."

But Kate Clark, mother of two Gayman students, wasn't buying it. "Open up your eyes and look around," she shouted at Corr a few minutes later. "You don't care about these kids. Don't tell me that you do."

The board is scheduled to make a final decision about the proposed busing changes on May 11.