No more bus rides for most Paso Robles students? Here’s why schools are cutting routes
Paso Robles schools will cut nearly all bus routes due to a driver shortage and the district’s ongoing financial problems.
The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board of trustees voted 6-1 on Tuesday night to cut eight of the 12 existing general education bus routes, leaving one city route and three routes that will transport students from Heritage Ranch and San Miguel.
Only high school students will ride the bus under the new route system, which will take effect in July.
The route cut will save schools $90,000 and impact at least 897 general education students in the third-largest district in San Luis Obispo County.
California does not require school districts to provide transportation, although they must bus students with disabilities and homeless students, per federal law.
The district will continue to service its 11 special education routes, some of which will be serviced by buses and others by mobility vans.
None of the district’s full-time drivers will be laid off, although some may drive special education routes during the next school year.
Paso Robles schools face driver shortage, price hike
Paso Robles schools are experiencing a bus driver shortage, and the district in January significantly raised the per-student price of passes from $95 per semester to $190 per semester in an effort to cut routes.
“It’s highly unlikely we’re going to be able to sustain the current routes we have through the end of this fiscal year,” Brad Pawlowski, chief business officer, told The Tribune in January.
Paso Robles parents now pay nearly $400 per year for a single student to ride the bus to school in the mornings and afternoons. That’s the most expensive bus pass of any kindergarten-through-12th grade district in the county.
Before the price hike, 1,200 students — approximately 18% of the 6,844 students in the district — rode the bus to school, Pawlowski said.
Now 1,121 students, about 12.7%, ride the bus, according to a presentation Pawlowski made at Tuesday night’s board meeting.
The increase caused a 12.7% ridership reduction, as 164 students stopped using the bus to get to school.
Following the pass reduction, 20 students had one absence the following week, six students had two absences and two students had three absences.
District decides to cut routes
The school board on Tuesday decided between four different plans to cut bus routes — one of which would’ve eliminated general education transportation entirely.
The option trustees selected would send one bus to transport high school students from the Heritage Ranch community near Lake Nacimiento and two buses to transport high school students from San Miguel north, of Paso Robles.
Both communities have elementary schools, but high school students must commute to Paso Robles.
The fourth bus could’ve transported high school students on a “portal-to-portal” route, which would’ve eliminated neighborhood service in favor of stops at Virginia Peterson Elementary School, Cuesta College’s North County campus, George H. Flamson Middle School and Paso Robles High School.
However, trustees opted for a city route that would transport high schoolers from the east side of town, likely from the Jardine Road-Highway 46 East area.
District leaders are in the midst of digging their way out a $3 million budget shortfall and must make additional cuts in the 2020-21 school year.
Pawlowski said the district’s financial issues are “secondary” to the bus driver shortage when determining transportation decisions.
However, any cost reductions will prevent the district from having to make additional cuts as leaders prepare next year’s budget, he said.
“Obviously, parents are disappointed,” Pawlowski said. “Parents are frustrated, and I can sympathize with that position.”
