Due to voter rejection of a recently proposed tax increase in Keller, a suburb just north of Fort Worth, parents of children attending public schools in the district will begin to start paying a fee for a service normally covered by local taxes (See here: Parents pay for bus rides). The district passed a pay-to-ride bus service that will charge parents $185 for their child to ride the bus to school, with an additional $135 per sibling. Because of a $30 million gap in the 2011-12 budget and a reduction in state funding, the district is scrambling to make cuts, and by slashing the bus service the school will raise $2 million. It is expected that the new system will affect more than 7,000 students, and even though this is a wealthy district it will hit low-income families hard. Thankfully, though, the school altered the original plan to allow parents to pay in installments instead of a full payment in August. Also, there are reductions for those qualify for free and reduced lunch.
Fiscally speaking, this plan seems reasonable to taxpayers who do not have children in schools. Why should their taxes get bumped up for children that aren’t their own? On the other hand, parents of students should be furious. The district property tax increase that projected to provide $16 million in revenue was an additional 13 cents for each $100 in assessed value. For example, this would cost the owner of a $200,000 an extra $260 a year. However, parents with two children riding on the bus system will be charged a whopping $640 a year.
So, what’s the most reasonable solution? Did the 55.8% of the voters who rejected the tax increase make the right decision? In my humble opinion, they certainly did NOT. It not only cost the school district their education transportation, but also eliminated more than a 100 teaching positions, most notably in the music and arts departments. (See the full list of cuts here: Tax Ratification Election). Personally, I think this (and other districts being forced to follow this trend) is outrageous. Did people forget the value of education? Surely they remember that the benefits from educating a child and helping them become productive members of society are universal. Even more, the Constitution establishes that it is the duty of the state to maintain a system of “public free schools” (Article VII), but with parents having to pay for transportation resources is this education actually free? When I was in school, I rode the bus because my parents could neither afford the gas or time off of work to take me to and from school. If the state requires students to go to school, shouldn’t a district allow a reasonable way for students to get there? What are they going to do when a parent cannot pay? Make them walk? Kick them out of school? Take their lunch money?
So, what’s the most reasonable solution? Did the 55.8% of the voters who rejected the tax increase make the right decision? In my humble opinion, they certainly did NOT. It not only cost the school district their education transportation, but also eliminated more than a 100 teaching positions, most notably in the music and arts departments. (See the full list of cuts here: Tax Ratification Election). Personally, I think this (and other districts being forced to follow this trend) is outrageous. Did people forget the value of education? Surely they remember that the benefits from educating a child and helping them become productive members of society are universal. Even more, the Constitution establishes that it is the duty of the state to maintain a system of “public free schools” (Article VII), but with parents having to pay for transportation resources is this education actually free? When I was in school, I rode the bus because my parents could neither afford the gas or time off of work to take me to and from school. If the state requires students to go to school, shouldn’t a district allow a reasonable way for students to get there? What are they going to do when a parent cannot pay? Make them walk? Kick them out of school? Take their lunch money?
All of this points to a much larger problem, though. The tax-less-cut-more ideology of the state government is affecting public education and Texas children. Keller ISD is just one of the hundreds of examples of the major flaws in our state’s educational policy.
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