JCPS focuses on magnet students to fix busing woes. Here are the options

Jefferson County Public School leaders are contemplating which students the district should or shouldn't bus next year after hearing about four different options to significantly decrease the number of routes covered by drivers.

Superintendent Marty Pollio presented board members with the different alternatives during a Tuesday meeting, and each revolves around the busing of magnet students who represent nearly a quarter of the district's bus riders.

Depending on which option board members choose, the district could drop an estimated 60 to 140 routes, according to Pollio's presentation. The district currently has 568 routes but only 578 drivers - and an average of 44 drivers have called in each day this school year.

"I just think the community needs to know that, you know, the days of all students being transported to all schools is at the end of the road," Pollio said. Legally, the district is only required to provide transportation to homeless students and those with specific disabilities. There about 4,800 students who fall into those categories currently receiving transportation, though JCPS buses about 68,000 students each day.

The options Pollio presented include transitioning away from using depots and instead toward magnet hubs, discontinuing busing to magnets altogether or only busing certain magnet students.

The goal is to implement the change for next school year, but it could happen over the winter break if the bus driver shortage increases, Pollio said. That, however, would create a logistical mess that would require creating new routes, new stops, tagging students with new route plans and more.

Here are the options:

Option 1: Switch to 'magnet hubs'

Under this option, JCPS would continue offering busing to all of the approximately 16,000 magnet students who are currently transported but would establish "magnet hubs." Students would have to get to the hubs to catch a bus to their schools. Currently, magnet students are picked up at a stop near their homes and ride to a depot, where they get on another bus that goes to their schools.

This option would only apply to students who are at full-magnet schools, not those who are enrolled in a magnet program. How many hubs and where they would be situated isn't known yet, but Pollio said they could be at certain schools or shopping centers throughout the city.

This option, according to Pollio's presentation, would eliminate 60 to 70 routes. But he has previously indicated that wouldn't be enough.

"Any change we make is going to have to reduce the number of routes significantly," Pollio said during the board's August meeting. "I don't want to make a major change and only reduce by 75 routes. We need to say, 'If we make this change, it is a sustainable change and it will be a sustainable change for the foreseeable future.'"

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Option 2: Bus magnet students who are economically disadvantaged

Under this option, JCPS would only transport magnet students who are considered economically disadvantaged. About 63%, or 9,100, of the district's magnet students fall into this category, though it is unclear how many are bused. Some magnet schools would be far more impacted by this option than others. For example, there are about 440 students at Manual High who are considered economically disadvantaged, while there are more than 900 at Central and nearly 1,000 at Butler.

This option could eliminate 90 to 100 routes, Pollio said.

Option 3: Economically disadvantaged students would have to get to a hub

Under this option, economically disadvantaged students would be bused to school but only after they make it to a magnet hub. This option could be a strain on families who do not have reliable transportation to get to the hub. This option would eliminate 100 to 110 bus routes. While this could help some families, access for others without reliable transportation would decrease. That could raise equity issues.

Option 4: Stop busing all magnet students, period

Under this option, JCPS would discontinue offering busing to all magnet students, who choose to attend a school outside their community. Of the four options, this would eliminate the most routes - 130 to 140. But it would create an equity issue, with some students having the means to find personal transportation to magnet schools - which generally tout better academic scores - while many economically disadvantaged students could not. That's the same issue that arises with Option 3.

The district's new assignment plan seeks to make its magnets more accessible to those very students.

"If you have magnet programs, those magnet programs tend to be magnet in name only if you don’t provide transportation to students," said Ray Hart, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools. "If you have magnets and you don't provide transportation, they're not really magnets."

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Contact reporter Krista Johnson at kjohnson3@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS busing system: District weighs 4 options with magnet students