Safety Drives Up Cobb School Bus Costs

The  could save about $5 million in transportation costs next school year by strictly enforcing a rule that students must walk if they live within 1.5 miles of school. But Superintendent Fred Sanderson told the Board of Education during a budget work session Monday night that such a move would be a mistake.

His main concern is safety. He said the 1.5-mile rule dates to a time when Cobb County had far fewer people than its current population of 719,000. With the larger population, four- and five-lane highways run by several schools, making the path to school dangerous.

Another problem with enforcing the 1.5-mile rule, Sanderson said, is that school traffic would increase dramatically as more parents drove their children. The resulting congestion could force schools to stagger start times. 

“We would be so inefficient we couldn’t get anything done,” Sanderson said.

Instead, Cobb buses pick up elementary school students living more than half a mile from school and middle and high school students living at least a mile away.

To save money, the school system’s transportation department has tried to optimize routes for fuel efficiency, eliminating 8,000 bus stops and 50 buses the past couple of years. Buses make 5,000 runs a day.

The transportation budget is under pressure because fuel prices are rising as state funding is falling. After a decrease in state school transportation money from $6.8 million to $5.2 million, the school system anticipates an additional cut of $350,000.

So the school board is looking for creative ways to pay higher transportation expenses. One idea is to add advertising to the side of school buses, something a few other districts have tried. The board previously discussed that option but found too many obstacles to do it.

The school system also discussed making a partial declaration of excess for SPLOST II funds to free the money for budget shortfalls but took no action. 

The budget news was better during a discussion of the food and nutrition budget, which runs a $2.4 million surplus that goes into the general school fund.

Cobb County schools serve 12.1 million lunches and 3.1 million breakfasts each school year.

School lunch prices have remained stable for nine years: $1.60 for elementary school students, $1.75 for middle school students and $1.85 for high school students, with a reduced price of 40 cents. For the past 10 years, school breakfast has cost $1 at all levels, with a reduced rate of 30 cents.

Those prices would rise under a U.S. Department of Agriculture proposal to require schools to charge for full-price lunches the same amount that the federal government reimburses the schools for reduced-price meals.

If the federal government enacts that regulation, the Cobb Board of Education plans to phase in higher prices at 10 cents per year until reaching the required price.

The school board opposes the increase in school meal prices and agreed to work with elected officials to try to stop the change.