Howard Lee on fuel costs: "We're in trouble"
I was talking today with Howard Lee, state school board chairman, about the current budget proposal and toward the end of our conversation I asked him about the four-day school week idea being offered as a possible solution to rising transportation costs.
The doubling of fuel costs over the past year caught both state lawmakers and educators off guard and most of the fretting that typically takes place around budget season had to do with possible shortfalls in the fuel budget.
"It's an unanticipated predicament we find ourselves in" Lee said. "We cannot stop running the school buses and we cannot shut schools down just because of a lack of money for fuel."
(Fortunately, Lee told me, the state budget up for final approval this week makes those cost manageable for the time being).
But North Carolina is not out of the woods. It's possible that fuel costs will continue to climb, presenting a dilemma that the current public schools system was not designed to address. I have heard already from folks who want to consider switching to a four-day school week (namely, Darlene Garrett and school board candidate Michael McKinnney). Also, rural districts in several states have gone this route.
This "solution" could present a host of other problems.
For example, how would you structure the school day so as to meet the state requirement that students be in school for 180 days or 1,000 hours? If you shorten the week and lengthen the days, how would that affect after-school athletics? Would teachers be required to work on the fifth day? What would parents who cannot afford child care do with their children the extra day?
Could limiting bus transportation in general place districts in the danger of violating the Leandro ruling that guarantees students a "sound basic education"? What about the federal requirement that allows students at poor-performing schools to transfer? And on and on...
Lee said that four-day weeks would at the least require approval by the state board. It could also take state legislative action.
"There's just a multitude of variables that have to be dealt with," Lee said.
High fuel costs have the potential to remake public education and put more financial pressure on parents and the state budget, Lee said. State education officials have not yet tried to determine at what point four-day work weeks become financially viable, he said, but they are thinking about options, such as cutting back on activity bus and athletics transportation.
"Let's face it," Lee said about fuel prices. "We're in big trouble."
Comments (11)
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The bussing in this County has nothing to do with the Leandro ruling.
Lets get that straight right away!
Posted on July 7, 2008 10:28 PM
There is a lot that can be done to save money on our bus routes....without....changing the school schedules!!
Examples::
Stop busing students from within walking/viewing distance of Page High School for a 40 minute ride to Eastern Guilford High School.....
Stop busing students that can walk to Lincoln or
Hairston to Eastern Guilford Middle school which is a 40 minute bus ride away....
Stop busing students within walking distance of Rankin Elementary to a 45 minute route to Gibsonville Elementary.
There are trailers at all three schools that could be moved to accommodate this change
Posted on July 8, 2008 11:23 AM
Stop bussing children that can walk to Andrews or Welborn to Southwest.
Posted on July 8, 2008 11:44 PM
Stop busing children who can walk to Southwest to Andrews and Central.
Posted on July 10, 2008 11:00 PM
I don't remember what this particular program was called but the board voted on it last year. It's the school bussing program that allows children whose parents have moved to continue at the same school. A child could be going to Montlieu and the parents move to Gibsonville and still be in Guilford County Schools and the child can have a GCS bus take him to the new school. How in the heck can GCS afford to continue this program with the high cost of fuel??
The idea sounds great so the student would not have to keep moving around to new schools if his parent keeps moving, but how can GCS afford this program as a practicle matter??
This is another example where something might sound innovative but was never thought out.
Posted on July 10, 2008 11:10 PM
That program was called Home Field Advantage and I believe it was for 10 of the schools last year-- not sure if they added to it or not. I think quite a few kids actually took part in that program. I am not endorsing this at all. I think it is one of the programs that needs to be dropped with high gas costs. I agree with Darlene Garrett that we need to plan now to make cuts and not be caught without a plan with then money runs out.
Posted on July 11, 2008 11:00 AM
Four day week may work for manufacturing, but is insane for schools. Figures that this would come
from the chair of the state School Board. Other
than reducing some of the cross county busing,
and changing the athletics schedule to reduce the
amount of after school busing, we all may just have
to suck it up and pay.
Posted on July 11, 2008 4:24 PM
Even if you move to a 4 day school week, kids still have to be in school for 180 days per year don't then? How do you do that? Do you put all schools on a year-round schedule?
Posted on July 15, 2008 12:12 PM
kids have to be in school 180 days or 1000 (I think) hours.
Posted on July 15, 2008 2:33 PM
neighborhood schools?
Posted on July 25, 2008 4:44 PM
High fuel prices are just another good reason to end busing for socio-economic reasons. We need neighborhood schools.
Posted on September 18, 2008 9:09 AM