PARKER, Colo.—Colorado’s third largest school district plans to start charging a fee to ride the school bus next school year.
The Douglas County School Board voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve a transportation fee of 50 cents per ride starting this fall, with exemptions for families who qualify for the National Free and Reduced Lunch Program and for students in the Individualized Education Program that requires transportation.
Students would receive passes linked to Zonar GPS units on each bus to track their rides.
Douglas County Schools will pay about $221,000 in three installments over the next three years to implement the GPS tracking technology.
The district hopes to raise $2 million with the new fee, as it faces $31 million in cuts for the upcoming school year.
About 17,000 students rode the bus this year.
“The fees are going to help us maintain the current level of service,” interim Superintendent Steve Herzog said. “We’ve cut almost $80 million over the last four years and I think it was a case of we have to spread the challenges around. This is one area we don’t have subsidies effective to pay for it.”
Some parents said the fee will be a burden.
“Seems a little expensive to me,” James Johnson said. “I have four kids so that would cost me $4 a day.”
At least one other school district could add a bus fee. Adams 12 is considering charging students up to $10 a month. About 12,000 of its students ride the bus. If implemented, the fee would generate $380,000.
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Information from: KUSA-TV,
