(DailyAnswer.org) – While immigrants who recently crossed the southern border receive public transportation to school, over 100 students are losing bus services in one Massachusetts school district just outside of Boston.
Last week, the Boston Herald reported that the parents of 150 students in Stoughton Public Schools were notified that their children would no longer receive school bus services and would have to find another way to get to school before the academic year begins on Wed, Sep. 4.
Joseph Baeta, the Superintendent of Schools, sent out the letter on Friday, Aug. 16, informing parents that the 150 secondary students “were not able to be placed on a bus.” The letter specified that the families who would not receive bus transportation were notified individually while those who would will receive “bus postcards” the following week. The superintendent said the district understands “the feelings of disappointment and frustration” caused by the situation and then proceeded to explain why the 150 students would not receive transportation so parents could “understand” how the district “arrived at this point.”
Baeta said that an increase of 160 students submitted bus applications compared to last school year and that due to budget restraints, the loss of one bus, and a shortage of drivers, the cuts in services were unavoidable because they could not meet the demand.
Although Massachusetts isn’t required to provide students transportation from grades 7 to 12, the district must provide transportation for underprivileged students living in shelters or hotels. Baeta explained that the increase in “migrant families” in the district isn’t the reason the district cannot meet the demand and that the funding for buses to shelters and hotels does not come from their operational budget but from state funding. The superintendent said the suggestion that those children receive transportation was not the reason the others did not.
The district held a virtual forum on Monday, Aug. 26, for parents to ask questions or express their concerns about the busing shortage and offer potential solutions.
Although he said the increase in immigration was not the reason for the shortage, Baeta did issue a letter last March recognizing that increase as contributing “financial pressure” on the district.
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