Cuts too deep in school transportation

If half the adult workforce would, or could, take public transportation to work each day, imagine how much better both our roads and environment would be.

Fortunately for those who appreciate clean air, smooth streets and less rush hour congestion, there is already a huge population in Illinois that uses mass transit each and every day — more than 1 million students who ride nearly 30,000 iconic yellow buses to school.

The benefits of the school bus are many: Each bus eliminates approximately 36 vehicles from the road and, collectively, they save 2.3 billion gallons of fuel annually. Students are 13 times safer, and 44 times less likely to be involved in a fatal crash, while riding the bus. Studies have shown that as much as 20 percent of student absenteeism can be attributed to school transportation issues.

Unfortunately, Gov. Quinn and the General Assembly have splashed the yellow bus with too much of the state’s red ink. From an appropriation of $350 million in FY 2010, school transportation funding has plummeted more than 40 percent in the last three years, with the governor recommending only $205 million for FY 2013.

Illinois’ education budget should not be balanced on the backpacks of the more the 1 million students who rely on the yellow bus to get to school safely every day. The school bus has been an essential part of our educational system since the days of inkwells and knickers.

We need to ensure that a lack of support and a failure to provide appropriate levels of state funding in Illinois don’t turn the yellow bus into another nostalgic icon of a bygone era.

Tom Beck, President

Illinois School Transportation Association