Continuation of 2010-2011 Pay Transportation Service for FBISD Elementary Students

Dear Mr. Davis,

We are in receipt of your letter dated April 21, 2010 informing us of the proposed cancellation of FBISD s Pay Transportation Service. With the 2010-2011 FBISD Budget Deficit estimated at $18-$20 million, we applaud the steps the district is taking in being proactive and implementing cost saving strategies.

However we the undersigned would request you to reconsider the proposed cancellation of the Pay Transportation Service for our Elementary Students for the reasons mentioned below. We are also willing to partner with the district to address the funding shortfall for this program.

Out of the 222 pay riders in the program, 126 pay riders are elementary students. Many of these students live 1.5 to 1.9 miles from their elementary schools. Walking to school for these young elementary students is not a viable option and would significantly impact the safety of these children.

Cancellation of the Pay Transportation Service is being done to yield a very negligible 1.25\% ($20,000) of the total $1.6 million in cost cutting through transportation savings.

Most of approximately $11,000/year funding shortfall for the 126 elementary students (out of the $20,000 for the entire pay program) could be recovered with an $8 increase in the cost of the pay program (from the current $27 to $35) that would net $9,072 ($8*126 * 9 months). We are ready to share in the sacrifice of FBISD and its employees and accept this 30\% rate increase that we are proposing.

There are several Federal Grant Funds available to school districts like the National Clean Diesel Fund, EPA Smart Growth Program, Adopt-A-School Bus Program etc. We strongly urge the district to actively pursue federal funding and the many grants available from private neighborhood corporations for its school bus transportation funding needs.

On an average one school bus replaces 36 private cars on our streets and a single gallon of gasoline produces 19.4 pounds of carbon dioxide. These emissions react in the presence of nitrogen oxides and sunlight to form ground-level ozone which is our most widespread and intractable urban air pollution problem.

Driving these 126 elementary students to school will result in increased wait times in the school car pool lanes and increase traffic in our neighborhoods.

The 2002 report by the National Academy of Sciences has conclusively proven that students are 13 times safer on a school bus than in a passenger car since buses have fewer accidents and withstand them better due to their size. In 2008-2009 there were 27 pedestrian accidents just in Sugar Land and several of these accidents involved minors.
(http://www.mediafire.com/file/megjikkdigi/SLPDPedestrianAccidents.pdf)

Capital Costs for buses and transportation infrastructure has been funded by our tax dollars. We residents participating in the Pay Transportation program have supported FBISD in its 2007 Bond Referendum where $11.2 Million was allocated to School Buses and $178,485 was allocated to Transportation Support Buildings including the Lake Olympia Bus Terminal.

We strongly implore you to keep the safety of our elementary children foremost and reconsider your decision to cancel the Pay Transportation Service for these elementary students.

CC:
Timothy R. Jenney, FBISD Superintendent
[email protected]

Bob Broxson, FBISD Board President
[email protected]

Laurie Caldwell, FBISD Board Vice President
[email protected]

David Reitz, FBISD Board Secretary
[email protected]

Sonal Bhuchar, FBISD Board Member Position 2
[email protected]

Marilyn Glover, FBISD Board Member Position 6
[email protected]

Susan Hohnbaum, FBISD Board Member Position 1
[email protected]

Daniel Menendez, FBISD Board Member Position 4
[email protected]

Jim Rice, FBISD Board Member Elect - Position 3
[email protected]

Jim Babb, FBISD Board Member Elect - Position 7
www.babb4fbisd.com