June 15, 2008 - June 21, 2008 Archives

As the gas meter began to approach the $50 mark, I groused about having to make the hour’s drive to a family function yesterday. With the cost of fuel averaging just above $4 a gallon in the Washington Metro area, the spike in gas prices has hit my pocketbook and altered my driving habits. I couldn’t help but wonder how school districts -- responsible for transporting millions of students each day -- are faring.

Let’s take a look.

In the Seattle area, where diesel fuel is currently at about $5 a gallon, school districts tried to offset the increase by allocating more money to transportation costs. The Auburn and the Northshore school districts both funneled about a quarter of a million dollars extra into their fuel budget midway through the year. But it wasn’t enough.

Northshore had to nix eight routes last year and has plans to pare down after-school and extracurricular activity routes. Meanwhile, Auburn is making students walk farther in tandem with creating safer walking routes.

In Colorado, Boulder Valley School District officials instituted cost saving measures like idle-reduction methods at bus stops and schools, and they have combed through all of its routes to make sure buses are running as efficiently as possible. The district has also discussed making families pay for transportation services and eliminating some service, but hasn’t made any moves in either direction … yet.

“We anticipated some of this, and because of previous planning we’re not hurting yet,” Bob Young, the district’s transportation director, told the Daily Camera. “The real question is, ‘Where’s it gonna go?’”

Naomi Dillon, Senior Editor

I wish I could get you the direct quote, but it’s lost somewhere, on a scrap of paper, amid the clutter of my “Reporter’s Car” -- which, as a former newspaper writer, I can tell you is not half as bad as that other journalistic icon: the “Photog’s Car.” (You know the expression: “Don’t go there?” Well, we’re talking literally.)

What was it that I just had to write down as I listened to the Kojo Nnamdi radio show on WAMU in Washington, D.C.? It was a quote from Darrell Watson, music director of the Ballou Senior High School Band -- the “Majestic Marching Knights” -- whom Nnamdi was interviewing on a segment about a new documentary film called simply “Ballou.”

I’ll try to paraphrase:

“We don’t have the greatest band in the world or the greatest kids in the world,” Watson said. “But we have a lot of heart.”

Not the greatest in the world? What a refreshing sentiment in this age of American Idol and similar shows, when the purpose of so many pursuits seems to be to achieve fame or be crowned the best.

But there is also joy in the pursuit itself -- in this case, the joy that comes from studying music, playing in an ensemble, and learning about one another. As I drove through Arlington, Va., last week listening to the show, I was touched by what the call-ins -- old timers and students alike -- had to say about the band, the people associated with it, and what it all meant to their lives.

Ballou may not have the best marching band in the world, but it is an extremely good one. Based in Southeast, D.C., a section of the city also known for street violence and poverty (See "The Neighborhood" in ASBJ), the band is testament to the belief that schools -- all schools -- need strong programs in music and the arts.

“Every school should have a band!” D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty says on the film’s website. I couldn’t agree more.

Lawrence Hardy, Senior Editor

$319 billion.

That’s what the Alliance for Excellent Education, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group, says the U.S. economy will lose over the lifetimes of the high school dropouts who would have graduated in 2008.

And while our economy could certainly use a boost, it’s the dropouts who will see the biggest financial impact over their lives: In 2005, the average annual income for a high school dropout in 2005 was $17,299, compared to $26,933 for a high school graduate -- nearly $10,000 less each year -- according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Some 1.2 million students started high school in 2004 but failed to graduate this year.

The Alliance, which is led by former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, has produced a package of statistics that should be required reading for all high school students.

It shows that if the U.S. and individual states could increase their four-year graduation rates, even modestly, the savings in expenses related to health care, welfare and other social benefits, and crime would be significant. Nationally, the on-time graduation rate is just over 70 percent, but it ranged from 45 percent in Nevada to 83 percent in New Jersey in the 2004-05 school year.

“Each class of high school dropouts damages the economy,” Wise said in a press release. “The best economic stimulus package is to increase the number of students who earn a high school diploma.”

Of course, as the report notes, the groups with the highest likelihood of dropping out are often the hardest to reach: blacks, Hispanics, males, students from low-income families, and students who are low achievers.

Meanwhile, California, the state that has suffered from a chronic economic downturn in recent years, may actually see some economic relief -- which will in turn help public schools -- through its new law allowing gay marriages.

A study by the University of California at Los Angeles says that some 55,000 gay and lesbian couples, 22,000 from out of state, will marry this year. Those planned wedding celebrations already have led to a spike in business for caterers, hotels, florists, and all wedding-related industries. If the weddings aren’t stymied by a state constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall, the largess could total $684 million in the next three years, according to the UCLA study.

Joetta Sack-Min, Associate Editor

It’s funny how many ways the federal government can stick its nose into things. And it’s sad how many times the public schools seem to pay the price for that intrusion.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has a problem with transit bus routes created to help students get to school. Because federal money subsidizes public transportation, the FTA says, adding school routes to the transit system keeps the cost of transporting students down—and that makes it hard for private bus companies to compete for the right to transport students to school.

Not surprisingly, there’s big money at stake. Officials in Oakland, Calif., told the Monitor that it would cost tens of millions of dollars to hire a private firm to run school buses. It’s just far cheaper to give students a $15 monthly bus pass to take a transit bus.

The Rochester, N.Y., school system says it would cost $8 million to $10 million more to give up mass transit in favor of privatizing school transportation.

Now, I’m all for private enterprise. On the other hand, I thought it was federal policy to encourage the use of public transportation and to spend tax dollars efficiently.

Am I missing something? Other than shifting tax dollars from the classroom to the bank accounts of commercial bus companies, exactly what will we gain from the FTA’s efforts?

Del Stover, Senior Editor

It’s safe to say that summer break has officially started for the majority of school districts across the country. For most kids, that means no homework, no tests, and most importantly, no getting up at the crack of dawn.

But while the next two months are a reprieve for many youngsters (whether the hiatus does more harm than good is another story) it certainly doesn’t mean district administrators and board members get to relax, as I explained to a close friend just the other day.

“You mean stuff still happens over the summer?” he asked naively. Yes, I replied, summer is often the time when districts can finally catch up or get ahead on important projects, take advantage of professional development opportunities, and plan for the future.

One school board I covered as a beat reporter always went on board retreats in July. And during a multi-year capital improvement project, district officials used the summer as a time to do renovations and additions to existing buildings.

Freed from the day-to-day distractions that occur during the school year, district officials can focus on the big picture, on things that may not be critical but matter nonetheless.

So, I’m curious. What do you spend your time doing during the summer? Tell us; we’d like to know.

Naomi Dillon, Senior Editor