Budget Area 2: Transportation

During the final Community Roundtable, which took place on Monday, March 8, participants discussed each area of the school budget and made recommendations to the Board of Education regarding which programs and services could be cut and which should be maintained. In order to keep the conversation going, we invite readers to post their thoughts on the following question that was presented to participants at the Community Roundtable. (Click here to read a PDF document that outlines the steps taken so far in the budget development process.)

During the second Community Roundtable in November, participants discussed topics related to transportation. Some of the participants’ most common recommendations were:

• Safety is paramount: Eliminating bus transportation within a specified radius around the schools and asking kids to walk is an accident waiting to happen.
• Establishing bus stops in the village makes sense.
• Field trips that do not directly relate to the curriculum should be eliminated.
• The district should continue to maintain a relatively new fleet of buses to minimize the impact on local taxes.

According to New York State education law, school districts must provide a means for students to get to school. However, the district could realize savings in this area by centralizing student pick-up and drop-off (creating bus stops); eliminating pick-up within a specific radius around each school; or reducing the number of “extra” runs (field trips, athletic trips, etc.). In theory, the district could also cut its entire transportation department and contract with an outside provider, but because Broadalbin-Perth already owns its own fleet of buses, this would probably end up costing more. (Click here to view a PDF of this complete question, including a chart of transportation expenditures from the current working draft of the 2010-11 budget.)

The Board of Education is considering allowing the district to institute centralized pick-up and drop-off (bus stops) in the Village of Broadalbin, which would save approximately $35,000 next year. Do you support this idea? Do you believe the Board of Education should look for additional cost savings in this area? If so, what budget items should it consider reducing or eliminating?