MISSION VIEJO : School Busing Charge Subject of Hearing

A Saddleback Valley Unified School District plan to charge families up to $375 a year for busing their children will be the subject of a public hearing Thursday.

Parents would be charged $150 each for their first two children and $75 for their third. Additional children would ride free, and the parents of special-education and low-income students would not have to pay the fee.

The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the proposal June 11.

District officials say that the plan is necessary because it costs the district $2.5 million annually to bus 4,500 students but that it only receives $1.2 million from the state for that purpose.

Also, they say, the district is in a financial crisis because of Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposal to cut $2 billion from the state’s education budget. Because of that proposal, the district has already cut $4.3 million from its $100-million budget and has sent layoff notices to 81 teachers and laid off 55 non-teachers.

District officials estimate that busing fees would raise about $600,000 a year for the district.

Assistant Supt. Robert Cornelius said the district would still continue to spend $700,000 a year for busing, money that he said would normally go to classroom or athletic programs.

According to state law, districts only have to provide busing for special education students--those with mental or physical handicaps. All other busing is optional, no matter how far a child lives from school.

Saddleback Valley Unified once charged for busing but stopped in 1989 after a state court ruled that public schools cannot charge for services they are providing.

But a state Court of Appeal recently ruled in a case involving the Arcadia Unified School District that districts can charge for busing.

Cornelius said the district would put any money it collects in an escrow account in case a higher court determines that charging for busing is illegal and the district is forced to make refunds.

The public hearing will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday at district headquarters, 25631 Diseno Drive.