News Summary

One of the more spontaneous moments at Gov. Ted Strickland's education summit in Dayton this week occurred when a 17-year-old Dunbar High School student gently scolded the governor.

Noting that high school students in Dayton aren't going to be bused this fall, he said that he and his friends are furiously scrambling to arrange carpools to get to school and be on time. But a new law that the governor backed and that prohibits more than two students from riding together is complicating their effort.

What, the student politely asked, did the governor think about their jam?

There was a moment of silence, laughter, and then the governor put his arm around the teenager and asked for a round of applause for him.

Gov. Strickland explained that the law, which took effect in April and limits drivers younger than 17 from driving with more than one nonfamily member at a time, was designed to prevent accidents involving teens.

Mr. Strickland, who never did answer the question, seemed unaware of the controversy surrounding Dayton's decision to cut busing for high-schoolers. But others knew all about it. The topic came up three times in the 90-minute summit.

(The governor — understandably — seemed to think that the point being made was that diesel prices are further strapping school districts, something he said he was going to have to think more about.)

The history is that the school board has decided that without the financial help it received last year from the city of Dayton, Montgomery County and the Regional Transit Authority, it has no choice but to tell high-schoolers that they have to find their own way to school. There will be no free RTA passes or special routes.

The district's new interim school superintendent, Kurt Stanic, wasn't here when this decision was initially made, but, so far, he is standing by it, saying the district will have to wait to see how students respond.

Mr. Stanic has said that, in his experience, sometimes cutting busing can have certain positive results — effectively forcing parents to become more involved with their children's schooling. He added, however, that he is not making predictions.

The board is taking a gamble: Though in the past it has insisted that the district simply had to bus students or attendance would drop like a rock, now it's saying that getting teenagers to school isn't one of its highest priorities. Previously, board members also said that not busing students would cost more than it would save. (If students aren't in school, that reduces the state money that districts get, because funding is tied to their head count.)

This change in tune is stunning. In a district where so many children are behind, ensuring that kids get to school is almost as fundamental as school safety. The chances of anything good coming out of this decision are almost nil. The very best that is likely to happen is that no-shows will go up, but not by as much as most people fear.

The Dunbar student posed a fair question, but the problem really is not that Ohio now has a law prohibiting kids from organizing their own carpools.