Dayton Public students impacted by busing restrictions in Ohio budget bill

Dayton Public Schools students will not be able to use school-issued Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority bus passes to go through the downtown Dayton RTA hub next school year under a provision in the state budget that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed Monday.

The change cuts off a way that many DPS high school students currently get to school.

This year’s state budget had several provisions that impacted local schools, including many that DeWine vetoed. Unlike previous years, where local schools left it up to state organizations to rally against budget items, superintendents and treasurers personally campaigned against some proposals.

Dayton Public Schools Superintendent David Lawrence said it’s not clear yet how high school students will get to school next year. He said there will be multiple meetings, with school board members, high school principals and community members before those decisions can be made.

Lawrence said the move will negatively impact students, many of whom use the school-issued bus passes to get to work, not just to school. Roughly half of the district’s high school students have jobs, he said.

Lawrence noted high school absenteeism is already higher than in elementary schools, and the district will need to implement creative solutions to ensure chronic absenteeism doesn’t get worse.

“Probably, it’ll trigger an attendance decline which could affect academic outcomes, unless we rally around the students with community support and figure out an efficient way to make sure that they get to school,” he said.

He said it’s unlikely the district will be able to hire additional drivers by the start of the school year, especially given the ongoing bus driver shortage felt by all districts.

Some ideas the district has already include encouraging more high school students to attend their home schools and walk to school with an existing plan using Ford Next Generation Learning to bring more career tech programming to high schools, or extending the school day and bringing students home on yellow buses using about $2.6 million saved by not purchasing bus passes.

Lawrence asked businesses and community members to help by bringing ideas and support in upcoming weeks.

“Now that this is done, let’s help us figure out with community support,” Lawrence said. “Is it rideshare? Is it walking? Is an extension of the school day?”