As reported in the November 2009 issue of the School Transportation News, states were expected to change laws or put new policies in place to better align with the federal Race to the Top competitive grant program selection criteria. The article anticipated that states would change laws that limit the number of charter schools in order to increase their chances of winning a share of the funds.

According to a recent report from the National Conference of State Legislatures a few states have done just that—they have modified charter school caps as well as make other changes that could have a direct or indirect impact on school transportation.

From the NCSL report, here is a sampling of policy changes state legislatures enacted to better align with the Race to the Top selection criteria:

The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA) had a positive effect on state budgets as spending and state service cuts in education and other areas would have been much deeper had the federal funds not been available, noted a February 25, 2010 report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a policy organization that analyzes fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals.

The ARRA gives states roughly $140 billion over a two-and-a-half year period to help fund ongoing programs, and the money is addressing approximately 30 to 40 percent of states’ 2009 and 2010 budget, the Center reported. But much of the money from the ARRA is for specific uses, and governors can only use a piece of their allotment to balance their budgets.

Several factors indicate an even gloomier outlook for 2011 state budgets. One is the continuing decline in tax revenue — the steepest decline in state tax receipts on record since the recession of the 1930s, according to the CBPP.

A February 2010 report issued by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government states experienced sharp declines in tax collections in the last quarter of 2009 — a record fifth straight quarterly drop. The Institute said that states that already have slashed spending or raised taxes will need to do more to make up for losses.

Second, the funds from the ARRA were meant to be distributed over a two-year period, and those two years end in 2011. ARRA funds are permitted to be used to “backfill” budgets (make up revenue shortfalls) as long as a state, once the ARRA funding ended, does not cut below education funding levels from fiscal year 2006. However, such a “funding cliff” is indeed a reality for many states as the economy struggles to recover.

In mid February, nearly half the United States governors had submitted their budget proposals for the upcoming 2011 fiscal year (which begins on July 1, 2010 in most states). While state legislatures must approve (and may significantly change) the governors’ proposed cuts, more cuts in funding for K-12 education loom large in 29 states and the District of Columbia, the CBPP said in its analysis of these proposed budgets.

In the United Kingdom, some schools will be implementing a program to deter bad behavior on the school buses, and using films and TV shows to do it. In an article on the BBC News Web site, a 12-month pilot program, called Zoom, will consist of showing age-appropriate movies, concerts and nature programs to students during their rides to and from school. They even go as far as mentioning: "In the USA, entertainment systems are already used to reduce antisocial behaviour. They also report positive results."

When I pack my wife and kids into our Suburban for a long car trip, I always make sure there are plenty of movies for the backseat bandits to watch. The inclusion of a DVD player was a definite selling point when I first looked at buying the SUV, and it comes in handy whenever we take a trip up north to visit our relatives. Now, I am not a proponent of using TV to "babysit" your kids in any way. My two boys and two girls are all very active and use their imaginations in ways that no television program or video games could ever compare to. But, when everyone is stuck in one place for an extended amount of time with a regulated amount of room to stretch, there is nothing wrong with throwing in a copy of Shrek or Lilo and Stitch to pass the time.

True, the costs of installing DVD players and TV monitors in school buses seems out of reach when some districts are fighting to keep the buses running, but it has some hidden cost savings as well. Think of all the time that is spent quelling disruptive behavior during bus rides, the paperwork involved with writing up an incident report, or the stress of watching the road and the 50-plus kids behind you. A little TV to keep everyone in their seats and occupied seems pretty priceless to me...

Bill Graves, ATA's president and CEO, made the comment following a $10,000 donation made by Navistar in support of a truck driver recruitment program that targets the men and women of the armed forces. Code named "Drive for Jobs," the Navistar initiative was highlighted during Truck Driver Appreciation Week.

"[Military veterans] have all the motivation and tools necessary to move successfully from the military into our industry," Graves added.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a similar national program for recruiting school bus drivers? We could call it "Drive for Tomorrow" or "Bus for Bucks." (The latter, of course, could be the most egregious false advertising claim ever as school bus drivers, on average, earn about $13 per hour. But more on that in a moment.)

It just so happens that Truck Driver Appreciation Week fell during "Love the Bus," an equivalent type of celebration for school bus drivers promoted by the American School Bus Council albeit with much less money at its disposal. But I have yet to see the employee drive related to "Love the Bus" that Navistar's program has. It might be something to think about for IC Bus, a subsidiary of Navistar and one of the founding members of ASBC, or others.

When it comes to new hires, certainly school districts would or should bend over backwards to hire service men and women to drive school buses. Retired Lt. Col. Russel L. Honore, the 2009 School Transportation News EXPO keynote speaker, said all Army personnel under his command held school bus CDLs as the vehicles are germane to troop movement. But these military personnel are also trained in logistics, so a career in routing planning and management is not out of the question.

The dirty little secret that should come as no surprise to anyone is that school bus drivers, and most of those in school transportation, are a drastically underpaid bunch. Sure, one might say, and so are teachers. Agreed. And both groups perform vital functions that help educate the nation's children.

Teachers, at least the ones hoping to make a career out of their profession, must obtain advanced degrees. Most have grown up wanting to teach and make a difference in child education. Meanwhile, many who gravitate toward becoming school bus drivers, for example, do so out of necessity or to supplement their retirement income or for the flexible schedules so they can be home when their kids are. Not to say that they don't also love being around students, but I would venture the guess that relatively few people as kids said, "I want to drive a school bus when I grow up," and meant it.

This is an underlying reason behind the formation of the LED Initiative by the National Association for Pupil Transportation, to promote leadership qualities in school transportation personnel with the endgame being career advancement. However, it focuses more on providing advanced training for transportation management. Where do school bus drivers fit in, and especially new hires? Perhaps this presents a new avenue to explore.

Aside from vehicle purchases, one of the largest budgetary items for school district transportation departments is driver training, which makes sense. Yet for the plethora of job functions, from the defensive driving techniques to student behavior management to bus stop safety to routing to pre-trip and post-trip inspections, school bus drivers remain one of the lowest paid school employee. This despite hearing school administrators at the National Conference on Education on how much they value school bus drivers, that they are the first and last school representatives to see a child in the morning and at night.

Yet, where's the money?

I do believe that most superintendents would pay school bus drivers more, if they could, just like they'd give teachers necessary pay bumps. Things just don't work that way, especially in today's economy. The chances that voters would, for example, approve a bond measure to give school bus drivers a pay hike is about as likely as a tea party being thrown at Nancy Pelosi's house. Something has to give, and no politician or superintendent that matter can make sacrifices in the classroom.

So where does that leave transportation? In short, hiring new drivers is made even more difficult when overall budgets are being slashed and routes are being reduced or cut altogether. But now more than ever could be the best time for the industry to begin working toward a nationalized process of identifying school bus driver candidates, similar to the Navistar program for ATA.

Consider the options amid a recent American School Bus Council drive to get U.S. House and Senate members to sign a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking the Department of Transportation to increase school bus ridership. Yellow buses, after all, are not only the safest alternative for children to get to and from school, but buses remove more cars off the street, at least in theory, hence saving fuel costs and reducing emissions.

But in that same vein, we mustn't forget the drivers to get them to and from school. Even with rampant unemployment nationwide, slowly but surely more and more schools are experiencing a harder time in filling vacant school bus driver positions. While it remains a pipe dream that the feds would come through with $5 million over two years to promote an increase in school bus ridership, it's time once again to at least start rethinking how the industry attracts new drivers who could become tomorrow's leaders.

Update: Later today after posting the above blog, I read this story from ABC.com. Is this cutting out more work for Navistar and, potentially as highlighted above, the school transportation industry?

On Feb. 1, Alexa Gonzalez, an 12-year-old student at Junior High School in Forest Hills, N.Y., was placed in handcuffs and hauled off to the police station after writing a message on her desk in green marker. Although I am not justifying what she did (I have worked as a janitor at both an elementary school and high school, and I know how hard it is to remove graffiti from desks and walls), I find it a little harsh to call in the local police over such a minor infraction. But, as both a reporter and parent, I see this type of reaction more and more from school districts.

At my daughter's high school, students are fined up to $300 if they get into a fight. Once again, I understand how violence has become more and more of an issue for school districts, and I want my children to feel safe at their schools, but isn't $300 a little extreme? In one case at my daughter's school, a friend of hers was pushed during a game of basketball, so he decided to push back. For such a minor incident, he was slapped with a $300 ticket. I remember getting into fights at a young age much more serious than a shoving match, and there were no fines passed out, and the SWAT team wasn't called in to break up the fight.

Remember, being proactive doens't mean you have to be over-reactive...