By Sen. Kent Williams
Imagine if your workday is extended three hours because of the time it takes you to get to the job and arrive home safely every day. Once home, your work is not done. You have to complete assignments or finish job-related tasks to keep on top of things at work. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, you are exhausted. And, your job performance suffers.
Unfortunately, that’s the reality for schoolchildren all across our state as my colleagues in the Senate recently discovered. A special Senate committee on school funding equity learned some students are on buses more than 90 minutes each way – or more than three hours daily – traveling to and from school. Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman appointed the special study committee in response to a S.C. Supreme Court decision last November when the justices ruled the state is not meeting its constitutional obligation to provide a basic education to students in rural districts, such as those in Marion and Dillon counties.
The Supreme Court charged the General Assembly and school districts to work together to craft a plan to address the problems facing the rural districts.
As a result, the House and Senate each have panels addressing the issue. “The magnitude of responsibilities to be borne by the Committee is great,” Leatherman wrote earlier this year to members of the special study committee.
In its recent meeting, the Senate study committee learned nearly 10 percent of all school bus routes were more than 90 minutes long, according to data from the S.C. Department of Education.
In the rural school districts whose lawsuit prompted the November Supreme Court decision, the situation was worse. In those rural school districts, more than 14 percent of school bus routes were more than 90 minutes, the data show.
For instance, in the Marion and Dillon 3 school districts, nearly 14 percent of the bus routes were more than 90 minutes, according to the state education department data. However, just 4 percent of the school bus routes in Dillon 4 were more than 90 minutes, the information shows
Senators learned some of the students on these long routes are children in 4-K programs.
The long bus rides have the potential to affect student achievement, performance, the ability to participate in extra-curricular activities and quality of home life.
Purchasing more school buses is just part of the solution. We need to find people willing to drive them. School districts are having difficulty hiring and retaining drivers who are discouraged by receiving low pay and working only part-time hours.
I know we will all come together and find a solution to the problems facing our schools. And, I pledge my efforts to make that happen. After all, we have so much riding on it.
It is an honor to serve you in Columbia, and I am grateful for your continued support. As with all matters concerning state government, I want to hear your opinions and suggestions concerning these issues. Please contact me in my Columbia office located at 608 Gressette Office Building. You can reach me, or a member of my staff in Columbia at (803) 212-6000 or by fax at (803) 212-6011. My district office is located at 1305 North Main Street, Marion, SC 29571, the phone number is (843) 423-8237 and the fax number is (843) 431-6049. You may also email me at kentwilliams@scsenate.gov.
As always, I also want to supply you with my business phone number so that you will able to reach me easily at any time. My business phone is (843) 423-3904. Please use this information to write, call or email me with your suggestions and concerns regarding issues before the Senate and in our community.