Expanding School Bus Service for Memphis Families Concerned About ICE Could Cost $20 Million

School bus stopped at a school (Photo by Memphis-Shelby County Schools)

District leaders with Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) say a request to provide more students with access to busing, amid challenges with chronic absenteeism and community fears of recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity, would not come cheaply.

School board members asked Superintendent Dr. Roderick Richmond’s administration to look into options to expand busing last October. Tuesday night, MSCS Assistant Superintendent of Operations Tito Langston presented cost estimates to do so by reducing the parent responsibility zone (PRZ).

Tito Langston (Photo by Memphis-Shelby County Schools)

Currently, parents are responsible for transporting their children to school if they live 1.5 miles or more from their elementary school and 2 miles from their middle or high school.

The district estimates that reducing the PRZ to 1 mile for elementary school students and 1.5 miles for middle and high school students would cost an additional $9.7 million in transportation costs. Reducing it even further, to half a mile for elementary school students and .75 of a mile for middle and high school students, would increase costs by $20.5 million.

Langston says the district didn’t consider changing the PRZ for specific communities that might have higher absenteeism rates because of fairness concerns.

“Changing the PRZ for only a few neighborhoods can unintentionally create unequitable access to transportation,” said Langston.

Board Requests Targeted Plan

Multiple board members, including Chair Natalie McKinney, pushed back on that viewpoint, saying the district needs to target “where the needs are.”

“This is in my mind is not equity, it’s equality, which means everybody treated the same. Everybody doesn’t have the same needs,” said McKinney. “We are looking at making sure that students that need to be on safe routes have a safe way to school, and how we are defining safe. That can be streets. That can be the fact that I need to be able to remain on the street without being snatched up.”

Board members asked Dr. Richmond’s administration to look into the issue further and return next year with an updated busing proposal.

“We got very loud feedback that we need to do something, and so let’s figure out what is a responsible amount of money to spend here. Who are the kids that need it the most?” said Board Member Amber Huett-Garcia.

Community Concerns Remain Despite Attendance Data

In recent months, district leaders have heard from various organizations in Shelby County that community members are providing rides to school for families concerned about ICE activity. Langston says the district itself has not detected a drop in attendance among immigrant students, though community advocates have reported challenges.

“Those community members are helping with rides, but they’re saying that those efforts require major sacrifices that (are) not sustainable long-term,” said Langston. “Advocates emphasize that the attendance numbers that we currently have don’t fully capture the daily hardships of families.”

Dr. Richmond promised to return to the board with an updated proposal, but he says altering busing in a targeted way will provide its own challenges. He says absenteeism is not an easy problem to fix.

“We could put measures in place to help us improve at school A next month, and so that school improves, but then school B may drop the following month,” said Dr. Richmond. “We also have students that are highly mobile, who move two or three times a year.”