HOOVER, Ala. — On Monday, the Hoover City Schools board rescinded its decision to end regular-education bus service starting with the 2014-15 school year.
As SBF previously reported, district officials had expected that ending the service would save more than $2.5 million per year, which could be redirected into classroom investment and/or deficit reduction.
However, following that decision, parents, students and other members of the community attended a public forum and told school officials that they had made a mistake in deciding to end the service.
Hoover City Schools Superintendent Andy Craig and school officials are now exploring ways to continue offering bus service with the district’s own bus fleet and drivers and to charge students a fee to ride the bus, according to a story on al.com.
Craig told the news outlet that the ability for the district to both receive state allocation for transportation and collect fees from bus riders was the primary contributing factor in the decision to rescind the vote to end bus service for most students.
He also recently went to Washington, D.C., to talk with U.S. Department of Justice officials about the school bus issue and has had some discussions with Alabama Department of Education officials about the fee-based bus system.
"The district remains committed to finding a solution and is engaged with various agencies regarding future transportation services as part of a review process," James Knickrehm, coordinator of pupil transportation, told SBF. "These primary discussions are focused on transporting our children using district-owned buses and district employees, while incorporating initiatives to reduce the negative financial effects of the historical underfunding of pupil transportation operations."
To read the full story from al.com, click here.
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