Hawaii Cuts 103 School Bus Routes
With only a month before the next school year starts, almost 2,400 students will have to find a new ride to class.
The Hawaii Department of Education on Saturday finalized a list of 103 bus routes that will be cut to make up part of a $17 million shortfall in transportation services. Oahu bore the brunt of the cuts.
As they have the past few years, school officials filled the bulk of the budget hole by diverting millions of dollars from federal funding sources. However, the department has yet to articulate the impact of shifting that cash around, which concerned Board of Education members at their last meeting.
It’s unclear if the result will mean fewer pencils or not paying substitute teachers, stalled learning initiatives or what exactly. The board may learn more at its meeting Tuesday, when the district will provide an .
A big chunk of the deficit will come from $8 million in so-called federal Impact Aid money that is over and above what the district was expecting. Impact Aid is a program that provides funding for a portion of the educational costs of federally connected students, which in Hawaii primarily means military.
The money is given to the state to spend however it sees fit because in theory these families are paying less taxes due to federal exemptions. Since Hawaii no longer has a line item to pay substitute teachers, the state has relied on this funding in part for that purpose.
“Our concern is it’s easy, relatively speaking, to cover the shortfall this year, but what do we do the following year? These one-time sources may not be available,” DOE Assistant Superintendent Randy Moore said Saturday.
Indeed, Education Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi told the board earlier this month that the district has been advised there will be a significant drop in Impact Aid money next year.
Last board meeting, the department proposed a plan that would have impacted 3,849 students. The number has steadily dropped since February when school officials projected 17,000 kids would be scrambling to find other transportation.
Despite the lower number, board members were still not satisfied. They were worried about the disproportionate impact on students who ride the bus to school on neighbor islands, where fewer alternatives exist.
The board ultimately approved the department’s recommendation June 18, with the condition that these concerns were addressed in part by pulling more federal money to cover the budget gap. Now the plan leaves neighbor islands relatively unscathed, Moore said.
The district has faced a student transportation shortfall due to escalating costs for bus services. State lawmakers said they gave the department less money than it wanted again last legislative session because school officials have yet to rein in skyrocketing costs for bus contracts.
Civil Beat has reported in its Taken for a Ride investigative series that school bus transportation costs have more than doubled in recent years, in part because bus companies abruptly stopped competing for contracts.
Coming Up Short Again Next Year
The DOE expects a $10.5 million shortfall next year for student transportation services, Moore said.
Discussions have been underway to address it with a three-pronged approach, he said. This plan involves hiring a consultant to eke out more efficiencies and continue to look at further route consolidations; stagger school start times to reduce the number of buses needed; and change the solicitation for bus contracts to give companies the option of leasing buses from the state.
“I’m reasonably confident we can squeeze that $10.5 million out by doing this,” Moore said. “But whether we can do it in one year, I’m less confident.”
Click to see what routes will be cut and how many students will be affected.
