Deficit would cut bus rides for 21,000 students

School bus service for more than 21,000 students on Oahu and the neighbor islands would be cut under a plan aimed at tackling an expected funding shortage for transportation next school year.

Under the proposal presented to a Board of Education committee Tuesday, school bus routes would be ranked based on community needs. Routes serving schools in the Kau-Pahoa area of Hawaii island and Wai­anae would have the highest priority, followed by rural neighbor island schools. First to be cut would be Oahu secondary schools outside Wai­anae.

The board’s Finance and Infrastructure Committee deferred decision-making on changes until the end of the legislative session, when the Department of Education will know for certain how short of money it will be for student transportation.

The issue will then go to the full board for a vote.

The department is expecting a shortfall of about $20 million in the 2012-13 school year, roughly half of what it spends on bus services for about 35,000 students statewide. Mandated curb-to-curb service is provided to about 4,000 special-education students.

The cost for the services statewide has nearly tripled in the last decade, to $76 million in fiscal year 2012, amid rising operational costs and a years-long dearth of competitive bidding.

Randy Moore, assistant superintendent for facilities and support services, said the department is looking at long list of savings measures, including charging low-income students who ride for free, changing contracts and tweaking other bus operations.

But those changes won’t be enough to cover the deficit.

“We’re going to be short,” he said.

At the committee meeting Tuesday, Moore warned that eliminating the bus service for most Oahu neighborhoods wouldn’t just affect student riders. “It’s an issue that affects every single person who has to be on the road in the morning or afternoon,” he said. 

Board members also raised broad concerns, saying that cutting bus services might affect student achievement and attendance, and could put children in danger by making them walk on busy streets that don’t have sidewalks.

But members also said they would have to work within their budget.

“The public needs to know that this board doesn’t appropriate money,” said Brian De Lima, board vice chairman. “If the Legislature is not going to appropriate the money, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.”

The department has requested $42 million to preserve the services on Oahu and the neighbor islands.

A House version of a supplemental budget bill, though, included less than half of that. A Senate version includes $23 million, Moore said.

On top of the expected shortfall is a budget proviso, approved last legislative session, that says the department cannot shift general funds from another program to cover school bus costs.

If that proviso isn’t lifted and the gaping deficit comes to pass, the department likely won’t have any other option but to slash services, Moore said. He also pointed out that it’s unclear whether the department could find money elsewhere in its budget to cover buses, given years of budget cuts.