School Bus Transportation News at STN Media

Perspective:

The 'Rest of the Story' Seldom Heard

By Ryan Gray | Senior Editor

There's an old saying in the journalism industry on the intrinsic importance of accuracy. It goes something like this: a doctor buries his mistakes; a lawyer sends his to prison; a journalist publishes his on the front page for all to read.

Any journalist with the least amount of experience has unfortunately tripped over the smallest fact, either misquoted or missed entirely, at one time or another. Rather than examples of media bias, as is commonly perceived, often such errors occur because reporters seldom start off as experts in the topics they cover. Nuances complicate any industry, ones that can quickly cloud an issue, especially those that are already complicated, such as those in the pupil transportation industry. Throw in the fact that many newsrooms now seem more interested in the bottom line, causing them to rush to print, in an effort to scoop the competition by uncovering the latest conspiracy.

It is the job of the reporter to disseminate the facts as they've been best explained by different sources, often on different ends of the topic's spectrum, and to distinguish between fact and opinion through independent and un-biased research so the public can decide for itself. So when I heard and read recent allegations against the school bus industry from the media, especially one from a respected news veteran, it caused some head scratching.

In April, following a deadly head-on collision between a garbage truck and a school bus in Arlington, Va., radio personality Paul Harvey went on air and said: "School busing is a costly, inconvenient and dangerous practice." Operating school buses is a quite expensive practice, but his tone insinuated that lack of safety was the reason. If his intent was to target lawmakers who control school bus coffers by discouraging parents from sending their children to school on the yellow bus, I missed the point and most certainly so did legislators.

Several requests to Harvey for an explanation were denied.

The School Bus Information Council informed Harvey of the err in his ways by pointing out in a letter that it costs more than a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline to transport each of the 25 million students who ride the yellow school bus each day. And with insurance liability rates and worker's compensation claims continuing to skyrocket, state and local funding to meet those costs has little legs.

The South Carolina Department of Education recently was forced to defend itself against "The Ralph Bristol Show," an obscure radio broadcast originating from the Greenville-Spartanburg area. Self-labeled as "the lonely voice of reason in a cacophony of chaotic chatter," Bristol 's comments tend to show otherwise.

In July, the state purchased 73 school buses at an average age of 13 years from the Louisville, Ky., public school system. The buses cost about $3,500 each. Bristol alleged that the DOE is misspending state money specifically designed for the purchase of new school buses, at a clip of $22 million for fiscal year 2005-2006. That's a 165 percent increase over last year that Bristol said is being misused.

"I instinctively knew there was a major aspect of the story that was missing when I read details," he wrote in a column for www.commonvoice.com on July 6. He was right; there was more to the story. Bristol just didn't share that with his readers.

A check with the DOE actually shows that the $22 million will be used, with the General Assembly's permission, to pay for the necessary diesel fuel to get kids to school. And that doesn't even allow for all other incurred operating costs."The General Assembly underfunds South Carolina's basic school bus operations every year, and it tacitly acknowledges this by repeatedly inserting budgetary language that allows the Education Department use 'bus purchase' money for fuel parts," the DOE said in a prepared statement refuting Bristol's claims. "The key culprits are fuel prices and parts for our aging fleet. Fuel is a prime example that everybody can relate to."

Some in South Carolina believe that Bristol, little known nationwide except in some small circles a source told School Transportation News, is protecting Gov. Mark Sanford's plan for privatization. In fact, school districts already have the ability to contract services but only two have chosen to do so.

In 2004, the DOE spent $12.3 million for bus fuel at an average cost of $0.97 per gallon. That cost is projected to rise to $23.7 million next year in 2006, as the cost per gallon has more than doubled. Meanwhile, the General Assembly only appropriated $9.5 million for bus operating expenses, even after the DOE said it cost $40.7 million to last year to operate its fleet of approximately 5,700 buses. It estimated that figure would rise by nearly 15 percent this year.

Then there are the issues of rising insurance and worker's compensation costs, with the latter increased by about $3.4 million over the past year, the DOE said.

"All these costs - fuel, parts, insurance - are things that we have absolutely no control over," the DOE said. "As a result, we have been forced to divert 'bus purchase' funds into basic operations."

Bristol, a nine-year resident of South Carolina, demonstrates he doesn't quite have the proper understanding of how the state runs its school buses, or how it pays for them. Admittedly, it's a complicated issue, as pupil transportation operations differs significantly from every other state in the Union . Unfortunately, Bristol by his own admission likes to impersonate Paul Harvey. And it sounds to me like he's doing too good a job of it.