Magnet busing may be cut back

CARY -- Wake County magnet school students could lose door-to-door bus service under a proposal to save money and reduce long bus rides that sometimes reach two hours each way.

Superintendent Tony Tata said Friday that students might have to travel on their own to the nearest high school, then get on a school bus to go to their magnet school.

"We've got to find a way to decrease the time a student is on a bus," Tata said. "Being on a bus two hours is ridiculous."

The potential change, which would start in the 2012-13 school year, is already drawing mixed reactions.

Vickie Adamson, president of the PTA at Ligon Middle School, a magnet in downtown Raleigh, said the proposal would inconvenience some families. The practice, called express busing, is now used on a limited basis to serve some magnet schools.

"Express busing may stop some parents from applying for the magnet program," Adamson said.

But school board Vice Chairman John Tedesco said magnet school parents need to help out more with transportation costs in exchange for the unique academic programs their children receive.

"They've got to help out and participate," Tedesco said of magnet parents. "Transportation for magnet schools is not cost-effective."

Since 1982, Wake's network of magnet schools has been used to promote diversity. Most of the magnet schools are in or near Southeast Raleigh. Special programs are offered at magnets to lure suburban students.

Magnet school bus routes are among Wake's longest in both distance and duration.

How it works now

In the limited express busing now in use, students get bus service to their magnet school at a central location, such as a school or library. It's up to parents to drop students off at the central location in the morning and to pick them up there in the afternoon.

Tata said he likes the idea because he wants to limit bus rides to no more than one hour each way. School district rules now say that a one-way ride time should be less than 45 minutes for most students. It adds that rides may be up to two hours each way for magnet students, but school officials say those are rarely that long.

'Incredibly expensive'

Tata said Friday that it would be "an incredibly expensive endeavor" to continue to provide door-to-door bus service for magnet schools.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system, second in size to Wake in North Carolina, eliminated door-to-door bus service for its magnet school this school year to save money.

Tata is confident

Tata said he doesn't expect express busing would have much of an impact on the magnet program. He pointed to an online survey of parents in which more than 70 percent said they'd go to a magnet school even if they only got express busing.

Tedesco added that the magnet program should still get more than enough applicants even if express busing is the only option. This year, 4,720 out of 8,476 applicants were accepted into magnet schools.

"This can help us save dollars from transportation and put it into the classroom," Tedesco said.

Parents' anxiety noted

But Adamson said the potential bus change creates even more uncertainty for magnet parents who are already unsure how the program will fare under the new student assignment plan being developed by Tata.

"They need to decide what they're going to do with the magnet program first before they look at the busing," she said.