Proposal Would Cut Transit Passes for Phila. Students
By Kristen A. Graham, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Jun. 21–A money-saving proposal to cut free transportation for more than 13,000 city students — which could tie bus benefits to attendance — is stirring controversy.
The proposed changes, which could save the cash-strapped Philadelphia School District up to $8 million, would affect some students in seventh through 12th grades who currently receive free SEPTA TransPasses. It would not affect students who ride yellow school buses.
On the table is a switch in mileage requirement for all students, public, private and charter. Pupils now receive free rides if they live 1.5 miles or more away from school; the new policy would change that to two miles. About 6,500 students would lose their rides.
Also added would be an attendance requirement, with only students who show up 85 percent of the time or more receiving the free TransPasses. More than 7,000 students could lose TransPasses if that is approved.
The attendance piece would apply to public school students, but would be difficult to enforce for private and charter school pupils, whose records are not kept by the district.
Students who get free SEPTA rides because they live along hazardous routes — mainly those who would have to cross busy roads if they walked — would not lose them no matter how far they live from school. Also unaffected would be students who get TransPasses under desegregation and special education policies.
The district is seeking public input on the policy, which could be voted on by the School Reform Commission next month. Two hearings are set for next week, and a survey is being collected.
For Phuong Ninh, who will be a senior at Bodine High in the fall, the policy would mean disaster, she said.
She currently receives a free TransPass and has a 10-minute ride to school on the Market-Frankford El, but her Kensington home is just under the two-mile mark from Bodine, in Northern Liberties.
“Both my parents are disabled, and they can’t drive me to school. Gas prices are increasing, and that’s why I’ve used SEPTA. I just won’t be going to school,” Ninh said.
Buying a TransPass on her own “just isn’t an option at all for me,” she said.
Fred Farlino, the district’s interim chief operating officer, said fiscal concerns prompted both proposals.
The state reimburses the district about 75 percent of the cost of TransPasses only for those students who live two miles or more from school. The district fully pays for those who live closer to school.
“The SRC needs to think about, if they don’t change that policy, then I will have $4.2 million of unreimbursed money that will drive the district’s deficit even deeper,” Farlino said of the mileage change.
The district’s $2.3 billion 2008-09 budget is technically balanced, but at least $5 million in unspecified cuts still need to be made.
Still, Farlino is not recommending that the attendance piece be adopted. Since the TransPass policy was adopted at the beginning of the 2007-08 school year, attendance for those who have received the free passes has risen, he said. Previously, the School District sold reduced-price tokens.
“I did not like the attendance component,” Farlino said. “It has a tendency to be punitive. It would be very difficult to implement, even in the School District of Philadelphia.”
Farlino said he expects most students who lose their passes would walk to school.
“Ninety-nine percent of those kids will not buy a TransPass,” he said. “They will walk, which is what they did before. Two miles is insignificant in grades seven through 12.”
Helen Gym, leader of Parents United for Public Education, disagreed.
“For a seventh grader, expecting them to walk two miles through neighborhoods is really far,” Gym said. “Although it may be legally mandated, it’s just too high to expect kids of that age to do that.”
Her group estimates it would cost $720 per child — without transfers — for students to buy the tokens to get back and forth to school all year.
Gym, who opposes both proposals, wants the district, state, and SEPTA to collaborate to find new answers.
“Transportation is a basic access-to-education issue,” Gym said. “No child who wants to go to school in Philadelphia should be denied just because they can’t afford to pay to get there.”
Greg Wade, president of the district’s Home and School Council, is frustrated at the survey, which is going out by phone and is also available online. Parents can say they endorse one or both policies, but there is no way to say they don’t like either.
Wade said he is hearing plenty from parents on the issue.
“They’re telling me, ‘They can’t do this to us.’ They’re worried about truancy? This would make it even worse,” Wade said.
Officials at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia are “very concerned” about the possible policy shift, said Donna Farrell, a spokeswoman.
“This would greatly impact our neighborhood Catholic school students and our regional archdiocesean high school students,” Farrell said.
Archdiocese officials sent a letter to Mayor Nutter asking for his leadership on the issue, Farrell said, in hope the mileage requirement would remain unchanged.
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Bus Changes on The Horizon?
The Philadelphia School District is proposing changes to its transportation policy. Two hearings will be held next week, both at the district headquarters, 440 N. Broad St.
The first is Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. and the second is Wednesday from 1 to 3 p.m.
The district is also seeking public input through a survey available on its Web site: www.phila.k12.pa.us/transportationsurvey.
Contact staff writer Kristen Graham at 215-854-5146 at kgraham@phillynews.com.
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