Buses may stop running for Iowa City Regina students

The wheels on Iowa City school district buses may stop going round and round for hundreds of Iowa City Regina students next school year.

In an effort to save money, district officials have said they plan to stop providing busing for students at the K-12 private school. Instead, parents would be reimbursed by the state for transportation costs and responsible for getting their kids to school.

Regina has more than 420 bus-eligible students this school year out of a total enrollment of 855.

A few dozen Regina parents and officials showed up at the Iowa City school board meeting last night to ask that the board reconsider.

“If you stop operating the buses, I don't know what we do,” said Petra Morales of Iowa City, a single mom to a ninth-grade boy. She said she starts work at 5 a.m.

The matter was not on the meeting agenda, and board members said they'd revisit it at their next meeting. They did not indicate whether they'd change their minds from what was a unanimous decision last spring.

The decision comes down to money, Superintendent Lane Plugge said, with the district slashing its spending in response to the recession and state budget cuts. Doing reimbursements instead of busing would save the district an estimated $260,000 annually.

“That $260,000 represents five teachers,” Plugge said.

By law, districts in Iowa must provide transportation to public and non-public students in their boundaries. Districts decide whether they want to arrange for busing or reimburse parents for transportation costs.

Last spring, 128 school districts reimbursed parents of non-public students, compared with 92 that provided transportation, according to the Iowa Department of Education.

In general, families were reimbursed $199 per student each semester. The state pays that. This year's rate has not been set.

Iowa City already uses reimbursements at Willowwind, a small private school.

School districts are reimbursed by the state for transporting non-public students, but it usually does not cover the full cost. The Iowa City school district estimates it will be repaid $173,013 this year, but puts the cost of operating 11 buses for Regina at $432,531.

Regina President Carol Trueg said she wants to see if savings could be found with more efficient routing, sharing buses with public school students or other ideas.

“It seems to me some creative problem solving is needed,” she said.