school bus road-e-o

(Kristen Hwang | al.com)

HOOVER, Alabama -- Hoover city schools tonight voted to cut school bus service to all but special education students in the 2014-2015 school year, according to a memo obtained by AL.com.



In that memo, superintendent Andy Craig argues the move is needed because of rising costs and shrinking revenue.

The move, Craig argued, would save $2.5 million. The service will remain in place for special education students.

"This was a tough choice to make. However, we want to remain focused on our number one goal: providing a top-notch classroom experience for all of our students. Most of our funding streams remain in a state of volatility. We will realize significant savings by making these changes to transportation and will continue to look for other areas in which to save taxpayer money and simultaneously protect the classroom," system spokesman Jason Gaston wrote tonight in an email to AL.com.

This is from

website:

"There are numerous reasons the Board has decided on this action. In recent years, there has been considerable negative pressure on many aspects of the school system's current financial operating model. The continued overall inverse relationship between increasing student enrollment and sharply declining revenues has diluted the funding model and eroded the district's investment capacity in core teaching and learning. Since 2008, system revenues on a per-student basis have decreased from $13,715 to $11,356 for the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2012.

This decline represents a cumulative operating revenue loss for the same four-year period of $96.8 million dollars. Annual revenues for fiscal year 2012 alone were down $31.6 million compared to the fiscal year 2008 level. The Superintendent and School Board believe that these steady losses and the impact they have had and will continue to have on the school system cannot be understated and must be addressed with significant changes that will allow Hoover City Schools to commit more financial recourses (sic) to instruction."

The statement also notes the system lost 110 teachers on a per student basis from 2008 to 2013 and continues to operate on a deficit.

Trisha Crain, an education activist who posts the

blog, criticized the move, noting

in local revenue generated per student.

"They could not locate $2.5 million to transport students to and from school. I can't help but question superintendent Andy Craig's management of the revenue state, local, and federal folks have entrusted him with. This is not a viable long term solution," Crain said. "It has the potential to effect housing. If parents can't get their children back and forth from school they'll leave the city. Who will will fill the houses and apartments they vacated?"

Updated at 10:08 p.m. with comment from a Hoover schools spokesman.