DOE awaits approval for school bus fare hike

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer

Month after month, the Department of Education has waited for Gov. Linda Lingle to sign a measure that would raise the fee students are charged to ride the school bus.

Now the school year is beginning without the 10-cent fare increase in place, complicating the financial picture for a department that already expected a $4 million shortfall in its transportation program.

So education officials were surprised to learn yesterday that Lingle had signed the measure in March.

It just can't be implemented.

The paperwork has been sent to Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona's office, which is waiting for additional information from the DOE, Lingle spokesman

Russell Pang said yesterday. Pang didn't know what information was needed.

"It's on the right track to be finalized, but there's just a few technicalities," Pang said.

Aiona's office could not be reached for comment late yesterday.

Even if the measure had complete approval today, the fare increase — to 35 cents — probably wouldn't go into effect until the spring semester, said Cynthia Kawachi, acting DOE student transportation services manager.

Meanwhile, the DOE's transportation deficit continues to climb, and education officials expressed frustration about the red tape and lack of communication that have blocked the fee increase, especially because the Board of Education has made several attempts to learn the status of the amendment.

"I'm appalled," said Breen Harimoto, BOE committee chairman of support services, which includes bus transportation. "We have been trying to get information from them forever, and we get no reply."

Harimoto said Aiona should call the BOE to get the information he needs.

The BOE approved the increase with other amendments in November.

Under state law, amendments to the administrative rules require the governor's signature, said Tom Yamashita, director of the Civil Rights Compliance Office. The amendments were sent to Lingle in December.

Implementation of the fee increase was expected this fall.

Without the money generated by the increase, education officials don't know where the money will come from to make up the transportation shortfall.

The education budget has "been squeezed from left to right and up and down, and there's no more to be squeezed," Harimoto said. "We really need the bus fare increase."

Given that the department may face further budget restrictions, the board has begun evaluating programs to determine which might be cut, he said.

The fare increase and other changes in service would affect more than 18,000 public school students who pay fares or ride for free.

Based on 13,500 paying riders riding the bus twice a day, the 10-cent fare increase would generate $486,000 for the department for the school year, Kawachi said.

Schools are reporting bigger ridership this year, so the actual figure could be higher, she said.

The amount paid by students doesn't cover the cost of the transportation, at $2 to $2.50 per round trip. The state subsidizes the difference, Kawachi said.

The last school bus fare increase came in 1995, from 10 cents to 25 cents per ride.

Another amendment before Lingle would change the criteria for free bus rides to match those for free school lunches. It would result in more students riding for free, Kawachi said.

"With the change of the criteria, the simple math will tell you it won't wipe out the deficit," she said. "But it will make things more equitable and easier for the schools and parents."

The new system could include selling tickets good for one ride, so parents wouldn't have find change for their children, she said. Tickets would be better than a pass, she said, because students would pay only for rides taken.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.