Pay for bus ride to school?

What do you think about this strategy that some school districts are adopting, charging students a fee if they want to ride the bus to/from school?

NBCChicago.com is reporting that the Illinois Board of Education is considering the move, offering districts in the state the options of eliminating buses altogether or having parents pay the transportation cost. The Illinois school system serves about 2.1 million students.

Nationwide, school districts struggling with massive budget shortfalls have started charging families for what had been a free service, with even more districts, including Palm Beach County in Florida, considering the idea of a pay-to-ride bus system.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, most families in the Keller Independent School District started racking up bills in August, with fees up to $170 for a child each semester. Because of Texas law, special needs students continue to ride for free.

“We understand that families are monetarily strapped and people are still upset,” said Dana Chandler, general manager of transportation with the Keller Independent School District with Durham School Services. “But I am not getting 100 calls a day as I did earlier, but down to one or two from parents. Ridership has grown as the year has progressed and I can’t believe it, but it has become successful.”

Parents in Colorado's third-largest school district are in their second year paying $1 day for their kids to ride the bus to school.

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