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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | August 2, 2024 09:52 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Natalie Mihalek |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Equitable School Transportation |
| Providing access to quality education is one of the fundamental duties of state government. In order to receive that education, a student must be able to safely and reliably get to and from school. In a recent decision of the Commonwealth Court in Bell, et. al. v. Wilkinsburg School District, just one of the many cases on record dealing with this issue, the majority found that Pennsylvania’s Public School Code and the Charter School Law permit school districts to provide public bus passes as acceptable transportation to students of any age. The majority opinion further states that, “although we share charter schools’ safety concerns, only the legislature can make the policy choice…” In a state as geographically diverse as Pennsylvania, public transit, and access to it, varies wildly. In recent days, students in Propel Schools (a public charter school with locations in the Pittsburgh area) were notified that students residing within the Penn Hills School District would be receiving a bus pass in order to get to school. Having learned of this issue through other school districts doing the same over the years, I wanted to see for myself what this kind of decision actually means for students. Along with members of the Propel administration, I set out from a student’s home to travel the route she would need to travel every day. We walked from the home to the bus stop for 40 plus minutes along winding two lane roads with no shoulder or sidewalk and cars constantly flying by. Once at the bus stop, the journey goes into downtown Pittsburgh for a bus transfer and then the second bus travels to a stop near Propel, which takes approximately 90 minutes. All told, this is over a two-hour commute just to get to school. Uphill both ways pales in comparison to this. With an August 15 start date, there is little time to react to the situation these particular students have been placed in. In order to avoid this in the future, it is imperative that we clarify our education code regarding the transportation of students. Please join me in co-sponsoring legislation to ensure every student in our Commonwealth is provided with access to safe and reliable transportation to and from school, so their only focus is learning. |