The cost of doing the right thing

Let me put a full disclaimer up top: I am running for the NY State Assembly district 122. I would love your support, if you think I’d be a good fit for AD122.¹ ²

One of the reasons why I’m running is because I’ve been on the Otsego County Board since January 2018. Because of that, I know first-hand how local governments get the fuzzy end of the lollipop stick if they don’t have state reps who will fight for them.

Spoiler alert: our current state reps like to say they have our backs and then do nearly nothing and then claim that they did do something but really they just voted against the state budget, then claimed that those programs in the budget they voted against were the help we needed and that rural counties could have had a big slice of the pie if only the big bad downstate Democrats didn’t take the entire pie for their own greedy mouths because it’s much easier to blame the group you’ve decided to demonize than find a way to deliver for your constituents who pay your $100,000+ salary.

I have Big Feelings about this.

But this isn’t really about that. This is about buses.³

Years ago, a decision was made to make sure every kid in the state had access to the school that best fit their educational needs. For the majority of kids, that was a standard-issue public school. For some, it was a special education program in a standard-issue public school. And for a few, the best fit was a specialized school devoted to whichever educational challenges that kid faced.

We can agree that educating kids is a social good.⁴

But then we get to the problem of how we get the kids to the school they need. For the vast majority of kids⁵, the school district pays for buses. You get your kid to the bus stop, they get on the bus, then the process is reversed in the afternoon.⁶

For a handful of younger kids,⁷ however, this bus dealio doesn’t work—and the school district can opt out of transporting them. So while the program the kid needs to be in is available, the kid might not be able to get there. Which is, as we pros say, a problem.

Enter county government.

We have to figure out how to get this handful of kids where they need to be when they need to be there, especially since this is a cohort for whom early intervention and educational programs are crucial. With enough support at the age when they are most primed to learn, many of these kiddos will be able to handle a mainstream classroom with less (or no) support, saving us money in the long run.

Again: this is the right thing to do.

You can feel the “however” coming, yes.

However.

The cost for busing this small bunch of kids is exploding, especially in rural counties. We have a lot of land to cover but not a lot of schools. In some cases, the best program is in another county or city. We also don’t have that many transportation companies in these parts—and most of those we do have aren’t willing to take on the responsibility⁸ of transporting a young kid with special needs.

The cost for this service has always been high. Post-COVID, it has ballooned.⁹

How much? In September, we moved an additional $1.2 million into that budget line.¹⁰

Was that money destined for other programs? Most of it, yes. But this is a mandated service. As a county, we can’t refuse to do it.¹¹

We also can’t continue down this path for too much longer. There are potential solutions. School districts could join counties at the negotiating table to hash out the most cost-efficient method of busing. Our state reps could get us some $$$ to cover more of the cost. Heck, someone could offer a grant that incentivizes building a rural school bus business for a small cohort of kids.

It’s likely it’s all of that and a couple of other approaches, too. But we can’t find them if folks in the room where these decisions are made aren’t willing to yell about the problem.

Again: education for all kids is an easy call. What’s hard is making sure the most vulnerable are part of that all, too.

1. All of that information is right here.

2. Also? This push from the NY Dems is helping my campaign for the Assembly seat because the 122nd crosses two U.S. House districts (NY19 and NY 22 for those coloring in the map at home) that we’re trying to flip blue. The additional boots on the ground knocking doors is great for those of us down ballot, too. It’s gonna be tough to unseat the AD122 incumbent, tho. Still, we press on with joy in our hearts — or as close to joy as we can get when we’re 30ish days from Election Day.

3. It is also about day care and certain mental health programs and a dozen other places where doing the right thing has created a budget-breaking burden for counties. But buses are a good stand-in for the whole group.

4. We can argue about how “woke” the curriculum is and how the arts have value and how teachers don’t earn nearly enough. We can’t argue about things that aren’t happening, like teachers performing transgender operations during the school day because OMG what is wrong with you?

5. In New York. Every state does this differently.

6. Parents and guardians can opt out, of course. We car-pooled ours when they were in elementary for reasons that I remember being complicated but can no longer remember the exact complications. Once they hit middle school, they walked.

7. mostly 3-5 year olds in pre-K programs

8. to say nothing of the regulations

9. many reasons why but more kids need more services now and we’re down to maybe two companies who will do it

10. where we found that $1.2 million is complicated. It wasn’t just laying around and had to come from other places — but explaining that is a whole other story.

11. I mean, we could. But the lawsuits would be even more expensive so …