Juan Gonzalez says that Mayor Bloomberg wants to drive down the cost of bus drivers’ salaries, but they are not the reason that the city spends more than $1 billion on school buses. Bus drivers are paid about $40,000 a year.

Read his analysis here.

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Education Reform, New York City, Unions

23 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

lellingw says:

January 20, 2013 at 11:09 pm

He had great opinion piece there. They bus to other states?

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Michele says:

January 21, 2013 at 12:28 am

Yes, to Connecticut also. Parents can sue the DOE to get their kids in private schools if they can prove their needs are not being met by any of the public schools that offer special ed. In fact, parents whose child never even attended a public school in the first place, can sue to get their child into another exclusive private school that offers special ed classes for their child’s specific needs.

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flerper says:

January 21, 2013 at 1:04 am

Not Juan’s best work. The last time the city tried to consolidate routes the union sued to block it on the basis that it would eliminate drivers’ jobs, so Cordiello pointing to 200 (out of 7,000) routes as the cause of high busing costs can’t be taken seriously. And noting that drivers make $40,000 a year is not the same thing as demonstrating that driver wages aren’t a significant cause of high transportation costs — how many drivers are employed on redundant routes, for example? In any event, Juan does makes clear that the biggest cost driver of all is special education transportation.

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Joe says:

January 21, 2013 at 2:01 am

At times, busing is necessary because the area is rural, balance enrollment, etc, We had nice neighborhood grammar schools and the schools did well in our suburban district. However, in my area, IL #103 grammar school, there was a referendum. The district said that busing was part of the referendum. I read the literature and there was no mention of busing. The referendum passed, but when we heard of busing, we became a lynch mob. We were told that “We did not have to worry about the cost of busing.” “The purpose was so teachers of the same grade could share materials and compare notes.” We still apposed it and the district formed a committee of parents. Two years later, the “parent committee recommended busing and the school board reluctantly agreed.” My children were no longer in grammar school. Now the budget is 11% busing. Children stand in the Chicago winter waiting for a bus. No more clubs or tutoring after school. “Busing is the last thing that will be cut from the budget.” I’ll speculate for you. Some “friend of the school” was told to buy buses to bus these children. From there, I can project big time.Now the story is that the district said that in 5 years it would come back for another referendum. But it was 7 years because they budgeted so well. That one did not pass. The results were so bad that the district has not tried again in 5 years. At the time, I taught at a large high school that wanted to have a school within a school to make smaller schools and a community. The neighborhood grammar schools wanted to make large schools. The state also wants unit districts to coordinate learning and text book adoption for K-12. Eliminate the 4 grammar school boards and one high school board. Not a chance.These school boards are self serving. This corruption of our schools has been going on for decades. Here is a 15 year old number. A bus goes out on a morning run and the cost is $180. Then the after school run. How many notes can teachers compare? Why is it not less expensive to buy more materials so teachers do not need to share? The spin doctors work hard to line their own pockets.

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Arilyn johnson says:

January 21, 2013 at 7:35 am

Also behind the rising costs of busing is the mayoral attack on neighborhood schools. The push to close neighborhood schools rather than support their improvement sends children outside of the neighborhoods, adding to the cost of busing.

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readingexchange says:

January 21, 2013 at 8:06 am

“Thus, Bloomberg’s own policies of opening more charters that recruit kids from greater distances has inadvertently led to more greater (need) for busing.”

Now, here’s a piece of the bus problem that Bloomberg could solve.

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Duane Swacker says:

January 21, 2013 at 8:54 am

Maybe the cost of fuel has something to do with the rising costs of busing???

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gitapik says:

January 21, 2013 at 9:52 am

There’s always truth at the center of a propaganda campaign. It’s what the spin is built around. I’ve been teaching Special Ed for almost 20 years. Some of my kids have traveled 2 hours or more, each way, on their route. It’s very tough for them. That’s within the 5 boroughs. Add to that the suburban routes, closing of neighborhood schools in favor of charter schools, and (yes) higher fuel costs and you’ve got a budget to reckon with.

I’m not in the center of these negotiations, so I’ll not profess to have a solution (though a review of the routes might be a good start). But I do believe that there are other ways of cutting costs or bringing money into the city coffers other than busting a union who’s members make salaries of $40,000 or less. “Making the tough choices” should include everyone. Not just the everyday working man and woman.

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- flerper says:
  
  January 21, 2013 at 10:53 am
  
  Problem is these negotiations aren’t negotiations at all. The drivers don’t work for the city, so the city and the union aren’t negotiating a labor contract. And the union simply cannot have what it wants. If the city put seniority provisions in the bus contracts it’s bidding out, it would immediately be sued by bus companies. It would lose, and the seniority provisions would have to come out, putting us right back where we are now.
  
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  - gitapik says:
    
    January 21, 2013 at 11:35 am
    
    Interesting. Thanks for the reply.
    
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  - flerper says:
    
    January 21, 2013 at 12:43 pm
    
    gitapik — Education transportation costs in NYC are complex, to say the least. Fuel costs are a part of the problem but not nearly the biggest problem. Here are some things to consider:
    
    1. Bus drivers aren’t getting rich, but at the same time overall costs have exploded and like a lot of other non-classroom budget lines, it has a real impact on individual school budgets and class sizes.
    
    2. About 85% of NYC students don’t use the buses at all. My kids don’t, even though they’re eligible, because it would require me to basically commute with them to a bus stop that’s almost in the opposite direction of their school, and I’d have to leave much earlier than I have to leave if I’m just taking them by subway, because the route is so inefficient.
    
    3. Bus ridership has been more or less flat for the last decade, yet the number of bus routes has increased from around 5,000 to 7,000. Why? I have no idea, but this is almost certainly related to the phenomenon where you have buses with only 6 kids on them.
    
    4. The city tried to consolidate routes in 2006-2007. The union opposed the plan because reducing the number of routes would mean fewer drivers, and it sued the city to block the plan. The city ultimately moved forward with the plan but backed off after students were left waiting in the freezing cold. It was a logistical and PR disaster.
    
    5. The bus driver’s union, Local 1181, was controlled by mafia (Genovese family) interests for most of the last 30 years. The union leadership extorted, kicked back, skimmed, and bribed. There were indictments and plea bargains. Don’t take my word for it –google “Salvatore Battaglia” and see what comes up. Today the union president is Michael Cordiello, the guy who worked directly under Battaglia. Draw your own conclusions. Politically, the union supports and is supported by Staten Island Republicans.
    
    6. The city has mismanaged the bus system and has been complicit by auto-renewing bus contracts (out of fears about disruptions to service and strikes) for decades.
    
    7. The third rail in this issue is services for special education students. There are all kinds of legal issues, perverse incentives, and political footballs in play.
    
    Suffice it to say that this isn’t a simple issue of labor rights and union busting.
    
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  - gitapik says:
    
    January 21, 2013 at 7:50 pm
    
    I really appreciate your input on this. I’ve bookmarked this and will pass the info onto my colleagues.
    
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- Ann Herzer says:
  
  January 21, 2013 at 3:48 pm
  
  Special educatonal students traveling two hours or more each way, is child abuse in my opinion! Why are children being bused into other states?
  
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  - Michele says:
    
    January 21, 2013 at 7:03 pm
    
    Because that is where the best schools are that meet the needs of these children. We would need to have a more complex conversation about the state of special ed in NYC.
    
    I know a student who attended this exclusive school in Greenwich Conn on the DOE’s dime: Eagle Hill School for children with language-based learning disabilities http://www.eaglehillschool.org.
    
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  - gitapik says:
    
    January 21, 2013 at 10:34 pm
    
    When I was a classroom teacher, I always tried to arrange a physical activity and discussion session at the beginning of the day in order to compensate for the effects of those bus trips. A moment to orient ourselves as a class. Not just for the kids, either. Teaching a class of kids with emotional difficulties and ADHD after busing can be “challenging”, to say the least.
    
    Federal law requires us to pay for a child’s education outside of the system should the parent or guardian prove that the public schools can’t meet their child’s educational needs. It’s a lengthy process, but doable. That’s not to say that you can’t find a great public school. Our sites are top notch. But as Michele said: it’s a complex topic.
    
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Barbara says:

January 21, 2013 at 10:45 am

One thing that made me shake me head: NYC of all places, — that home of huge numbers of sophisticated, talented, educated and ambitious people — should be able to create and run such amazing special ed schools that the school bus traffic should be running in the other direction. People come from all over the world for the arts & culture, medical facitilies, shopping, etc. — surely special ed could be added to that list, if only the political will existed.

One thing that broke my heart: the children using wheelchairs who have to be carried down their buildings’ steps to the school bus each morning, and back up at the end of the day. Here we see how essential school can be for a child, for these children probably don’t get many other chances to leave the confines of their apartments.

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Ann Herzer says:

January 21, 2013 at 8:34 pm

Is Eagle Hill School a charter school?

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- Michele says:
  
  January 21, 2013 at 9:10 pm
  
  No, it is a private school – tuition is $59,125 per academic year. The DOE pays this tuition bill. There are also private schools in NYC such as Mary McDowell, tuition $45,960, that accept NYC public school students who struggle with dyslexia. Again, because parents who advocate for their children do not feel that a NYC public school is adequate for their child’s special needs, have the right to sue the DOE for placement in private schools that will meet the needs of their child. One would think it would be cheaper for the DOE to fix the problem with special ed rather than have to pay private school tuition for some students but that seems too logical.
  
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  - gitapik says:
    
    January 21, 2013 at 11:41 pm
    
    As a public school teacher in special education, I’ve successfully taught children with dyslexia and other “disabilities” for years. The vast majority of my colleagues and I are hard working professionals who are well trained and committed to giving all we’ve got to our students.
    
    The fact is, however, that much of what worked for us was taken away and replaced with strict, time consuming curriculum mandates from outside sources who didn’t trust us to do our job “right”. This might sound cliche…but I’ve watched it happen. The ELA and math programs that have been forced on us the past decade and more may have worked for my daughter, who’s an A and A+ general ed student…but they’re just as ineffective for others who require a more specialized approach, based on their particular needs.
    
    But this isn’t about busing…is it?
    
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  - Ann Herzer says:
    
    January 22, 2013 at 7:57 pm
    
    $59,125 per academic year to attend any school is unreal. And, what kind of parent allows children to be bused four or more hours per day? Any gain a child might have from attending such a private school would be lost due to this unrealistic long day. Check the research!
    
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Brian Ford says:

January 22, 2013 at 12:52 pm

I propose a contest for a Mike Bloomberg nickname —
‘Make it Private’ Mike and ‘Bust the Unions’ Bloomberg
are the first two candidates.

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- gitapik says:
  
  January 22, 2013 at 9:47 pm
  
  “Private” and “Buster” for short
  
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  - gitapik says:
    
    January 22, 2013 at 10:19 pm
    
    Actually, I tend to go by the issue at hand. I honestly don’t have a first hand slant on what’s going on with the bus driver’s strike. Flerper’s posts were instructive and non-inflammatory. Good communication.
    
    I’m pro union, but I’m not blind about it. I used to work management before teaching, so I’ve seen the other side of the coin. I have strong opinions about Bloomberg’s handling of the Dept of Ed because I’ve lived through it. Not so with the bus driver’s strike.
    
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