Posted: June 30, 2009

Franklin — Beginning this fall, private school parents will no longer have a public bus service to safely transport their kids to and from school.

The Franklin School Board, in an effort to save money, has decided to cancel busing for private schools and will instead make payments to those parents to help them make other arrangements.

Several private school parents and staff attended a June 24 meeting to voice their protest over a decision they say is unfair.

Families that send their children to parochial schools should have the same rights for safe and reliable transportation as those who send their children to public school, said one parent.

Jeanne Johnson, principal of St. Martin of Tours Parish School, echoed that sentiment.

"Our families pay property taxes, and now for their tax dollar they're not getting any service," she said. "The long and short of this is that our students are residents as well, and they are not being treated equally."

Cash compensation

To abide by state law, the board must pay families who send their kids to private schools a sum of money in the form of a "parent contract" every year in place of providing a busing service. According to some figures discussed at the meeting, the payment amounts to about $300 to $400 annually for those families.

But it's not the money they want, according to the parents who attended the meeting, it's the service.

"When we're at work at three in the afternoon, we want to be confident our children will arrive home safely," said one father, whose son calls him every afternoon at 3:05 when he gets off the bus. It's the most important call he gets all day, he said.

Budget problems

Board President Dave Szychlinski understands the concern of private school parents but maintains this was the best decision for the School Board.

"Obviously, this is a very emotional issue because parents have gotten used to putting their children on a bus and not worrying about it," he said. "But when a district is making cuts in its budget, we have to look at everything."

Several other cuts were considered, such as changing the public schools' gifted and talented program and making adjustments to the libraries. The goal was to avoid making cuts that would affect what goes on in the classrooms, Szychlinski said.

"The unfortunate thing about this budget is that we cut things that we really didn't want to cut," he said. "The board doesn't want to have to make these changes, but on the other hand, given the economy, we know that we can't go to the taxpayers and ask for an exorbitant increase in taxes."

The most significant amendment to the budget that was approved at the meeting was the freezing of the salaries of all non-union personnel in the public school administration for one year, he said.

Finding an alternative

The next step for private school parents is to use the rest of the summer to consider alternative means of transportation like organized car pools, he added, and the School Board is willing to give the parents as much support as they can.

"The public school district has always been very cooperative with us (private schools)," said Johnson. "Our families will definitely work with the decision to do the best that we can."