Support Sudbury

Excerpt from Sudbury Public Schools' FAQs:

The state requires school districts to provide transportation for students in grades k-6 who live more than 2 miles from school.  As a service, and for a fee, SPS provides transportation to those who live within 2 miles and to 7th and 8th grade students as well. Historically, busing was subsidized by the district.  In other words, Sudbury taxpayers funded school busing as part of their support of the Sudbury Public Schools.  In FY08, the Sudbury School Committee took steps to return the busing system to a bus stop system.  Over the previous years, the system had evolved to more of a door-to-door system. By returning to a bus stop system, substantial cost savings were achieved due to the use of fewer buses.  Moreover, the system became more efficient.

When the override for FY09 failed, however, the School Committee made the difficult decision to stop subsidizing the busing and pass along actual costs to the users.  While there was serious consideration to ending all non-mandated busing, it was ultimately decided that the better course was to provide parents with the option to pay for this service.  Under this user fee system, the sums that would have previously subsidized busing could be used to mitigate the severity of the cuts to the SPS.  The bus fees that are paid currently go to pay the bus companies.

Excerpt from Sudbury Public Schools' FAQs:

In order to keep costs down, the SPS attempts to use the fewest possible buses to avoid additional per bus fees. After the fees were announced, many people did not sign up for bus passes, and decisions about the number of buses and stops were made based on that information. Then, later than expected, many people requested bus passes. This resulted in some unfortunate crowding. Steps have been taken to address this situation, but efforts will continue to keep the system as efficient as possible.