Busing raises district concerns over schools of choice

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ABOUT THE PLAN

Tom Menzel, Bay Area Transportation Authority's executive director, finalized some plans with Suttons Bay Public Schools Superintendent Mike Murray this week about general education busing next year.

Round-trip student fares will cost $1.88 per day, down from about $3 now, Menzel said. The district intends to cover the cost.

BATA will purchase eight of Suttons Bay's buses, leaving some for special education and field trips, for $1 each with the option to sell them back at the same price next year if the program fails.

The agency will pay about $28,500 in one-time costs to paint the buses, he said.

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Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner

April 24, 2010

BY LINDSAY VANHULLE Record-Eagle The Record Eagle Sat Apr 24, 2010, 07:48 AM EDT

SUTTONS BAY — At first, students in Suttons Bay were likely to pay as much as $300 to ride public transportation to school next year.

Now they won't have to, a change of plans administrators said was prompted by a neighboring district's overture.

Leland Public School Superintendent Mike Hartigan will, at the school board's direction, consider routing a bus into Suttons Bay to pick up school-choice students.

Suttons Bay Superintendent Mike Murray views the idea as a hostile move that violates traditionally accepted practices regarding boundaries and threatens to lure students away when enrollment already is declining.

But Hartigan and board members insist they won't recruit students and are responding to the inquiries of families considering the switch.

"They contacted us, and that's the key point," Hartigan said. "I haven't really done much investigation other than pulling up a map."

Students in the region can attend schools outside their home districts through a program known as school choice. Typically, parents drive their children to school or to a stop within district borders, where they can then board a bus.

Leland leaders said one or two families living near Bingham Road, at the southern end of Suttons Bay's district, asked if busing from home would be possible if they transferred schools.

The seven-member board unanimously agreed to have Hartigan explore the idea within 60 days.

It could be that the district asks the families to carpool or get to an existing Leland bus stop, board President Bill Robinson said. A bus route could extend a few more miles down County Road 641.

He wouldn't support adding drivers or routes, but extending one would be more expensive.

"We have to consider the extra costs. We have to consider the safety issue. We have to consider wear and tear," Robinson said. "I think we're making a responsible decision right now."

Murray isn't convinced.

After Hartigan called to relay the board's decision, Murray met with Bay Area Transportation Authority managers to finalize a partnership. Suttons Bay's board eliminated general education busing next year, a savings of $500,000.

The result: Suttons Bay will secure funding to subsidize bus passes so families won't have to pay.

"It's not going to be a choice between paying to go to school in Suttons Bay or having Leland come in and pick you up for free," Murray said. "I cannot speculate on what they're thinking. I think that their actions speak pretty loudly."

BATA Executive Director Tom Menzel was more direct, calling the Leland board's action "racist" in that it doesn't include students from the entire district, a region that is home to children of American Indian descent.

He said he hadn't talked to Hartigan and learned of the vote from others, and later said he "may have overreacted" with his initial response.

Still, Menzel said, it doesn't promote a sense of cooperation, especially when schools are dealing with economic challenges.

Suttons Bay is among the lowest-funded school systems at a base of $7,316 per student. Leland receives $8,273. The figures don't include the effects of a $165 per-student cut this year.

"Maybe the board just didn't think through what they were doing," Menzel said. "As we are stretched in terms of what resources we have available, the attitude needs to be, 'Let's help one another.'"

The idea that board members were racially motivated is "a ridiculous statement," Robinson said.

Leland can't afford to bus all of Leelanau County, he said, and is only considering a specific request.

Robinson said Suttons Bay operated bus stops inside Leland's borders before, but Murray said they were near the line and ordered them moved several hundred yards after he learned of them this week.

"Those are a couple students tinkering around the edges," he said. "That's not at all equivalent."

Mary Woods drives her children to Suttons Bay schools. She lives within district borders near Bingham Road.

She hopes families who consider leaving are doing so for reasons other than transportation. If not, she said, they should move there if they want busing.

"When you need something, Leland, are you going to come knocking at Suttons Bay's door?" Woods said. "It's all going to come to a head."