LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools said its best option to get kids to and from school on time is to cut buses for thousands of students.
Students at magnet and traditional schools, who aren't going to their resides school, could lose their bus rides under a district plan that's expected to be voted on by the Jefferson County Board of Education on Tuesday, March 26.
If the district recommendation passes, students in magnet and traditional programs would need to find another way to get to school — or switch to their reside school, if they need to ride the bus.
"You push away kids from what they love to do," said JCPS parent Nicole Williams. "You're going to push them out of these magnets, and there's not a lot of other schools that have a lot of these magnets."
Williams is the mother of two JCPS students. While her daughter at Central High School will graduate this year, she's worried that her sophomore at duPont Manual will lose her bus ride and end up spending her last two years of high school at her reside school instead.
"She's followed the arts magnet and she loves Manual. She does track at Manual, and I think it would definitely devastate her if she had to leave Manual," Williams explained.
After struggling with a shortage of bus drivers, JCPS has been going through options aimed at making sure kids aren't missing class time.
If the board of education votes to eliminate transportation for magnet and traditional students, the district plans to re-visit start times.
The district released a recommendation for next school year that said only one option would match up the number of bus riders to the number of expected drivers and routes. It would mean no more JCPS transportation for magnet and traditional students, as well as high school Academies of Louisville students, who aren't going to their resides school. This would impact more than 14,000 students.
JCPS board members to vote
The final decision is up to the school board, which is expected to vote on the recommendation Tuesday.
"This just looks like the only option for us," said JCPS Board Member Linda Duncan. "This is ... this is not a happy decision for us and we understand the difficulty that it imposes on our kids and our families. And it's not something that we have arrived at lightly, but we also have to be realistic and hope that our timeline for implementation of this gives parents a chance to prepare the best that they can for this."
Duncan said one positive would be giving parents a stipend of $5 or $10 to drive their children to school.
But Williams said that proposal, or the idea of public transportation, are not enough to get her on board with this option.
"I'm not putting my child on the TARC. It's not worth it. But even the $5 or $10 stipend is not going to be an incentive for me to say, 'Oh you know what? I'll go ahead and miss out on work. You know, this much.' Because I have to come in late, and I also have to leave early," she said. "So that cuts out my job, and my boss is not going to let me come in late and leave early every day because of this."
In a statement, JCPS Board Member Sarah McIntosh said, in part, that the elimination of buses for magnet and traditional schools is an "imperfect plan," but it improves the current situation. She added that the district can't continue to allow kids to miss significant class time or have them waiting for hours to go home.
"I have not received any actionable recommendations from those asking to keep transportation for the magnets and traditional schools that doesn't also keep us where we are for the remainder of our students, which is in an unacceptable predicament," McIntosh said in the statement. "This is something that was shared as a possibility back in the fall, so I don't think it is a surprise. Should we have formally collected comments sooner? I think we should have. However, the discussion that has led us here has been very public and transparent."
Williams said when her daughter was accepted into the magnet program, the expectation was there that she would have transportation from the school.
"I'm a single mother. I'm a one-income household. And I have one vehicle. So even my oldest daughter is not driving," said Williams, also adding that she doesn't know of any neighbors or others nearby who could help take her daughter to and from school.
"They need to consider the other parents who cannot afford it, who cannot do it, who don't have the means to get their child back and forth to school. They need to consider those parents as well," she said.
According to the district, if passed, the students who would continue be offered a seat on the bus are those who attend their resides school, elementary students who attend school in their cluster, McKinney Vento students, and students who attend alternative schools or state agency schools. The district is federally required to transport special education students that have transportation included in their Individualized Education Learning (IEP) or homeless students.
In a statement, the district said there is no easy solution, but if it continues to transport all students with the number of bus drivers it has, students will continue to miss instructional minutes.
JCPS start times could change
It is still possible that some school start times could change. Duncan said the school start time schedule could be another big adjustment in August.
"I do think that start times will be different than what they are this year with the nine," she said Friday.
After changing from two to nine start times and overhauling bus routes, the new system had a difficult rollout in August 2023, when delays forced the cancellation of six days of school.
Things have improved since then, but the data sheds light on the issues schools continue to grapple with each day. In just a three week period of October, JCPS students district-wide missed over one million instructional minutes.
In a statement Friday, JCPS Spokesperson Carolyn Callahan said depending on what the school board decides transportation will look like next year, there may be some shifts in start times.
Duncan said she hopes JCPS can simplify the start times to help attract more bus drivers.
JCPS asking for input
The district is asking for feedback on the transportation plan. A district spokesperson said information from the survey will be shared with JCPS Board members. To take the survey and offer your opinion, click here.
More JCPS Transportation Coverage:
- JCPS makes official recommendation on transportation plan ahead of vote next week
- JCPS committee reviewing all transportation options, including one not previously discussed in-depth
- Kentucky House committee passes resolution that would create task force to 'monitor' JCPS
- JCPS board members weigh in on transportation options up for consideration
- JCPS considers solutions for transportation and dealing with behavior issues on buses
- JCPS superintendent Pollio against splitting district, discusses challenges and highlights at 'State of the District'
- JCPS in conversations with TARC to offer alternatives if transportation limited next school year
- JCPS board continues weighing transportation options amid concerns over limiting students' access to magnet schools
- JCPS says only 1 plan will solve its bus driver shortage next year. Here's how it would work.
- JCPS board will consider these options to fix bus debacle in February, superintendent says
- Bill would allow Kentucky public school employees to drive students to and from school in passenger vehicles
- JCPS says transportation not guaranteed for all students next school year
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