HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

The Struggle to Get Him to School

Views:934
@ReasonVids

How access to school transportation drives inequality

------------------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ReasonTV?subconfirmation=1
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
----------------

When Christina Laster moved to Palm Springs, California, in 2020, she considered sending her son Daniel to the local elementary school that was right across the street. But at Julius Corsini Elementary School, the students score well below the state average in English and math.

"There's no way I am sending my son to a failing school," says Laster.

Instead, Daniel attends Palm Academy, which is part of the Springs Charter Schools network. Like all charters, the school is publicly funded, so there's no tuition bill. And Laster feels that it's well-equipped to serve Daniel's special needs.

The problem is that Palm Academy doesn't provide transportation. Because it's a charter, the school accepts students from as far as the next county over. And without access to options like the traditional yellow bus, getting to school can be a major barrier to exercising choice—especially for single-parent households like Laster's. This is a nationwide problem: Although it varies by district, about two-thirds of states don't require districts to provide transportation for charter school students.

"Like many things in public education, the orientation that school districts and the public sector tends to have toward school transportation is that the clients of the schools are the school districts rather than the clients are the parents and what they need," explains Andrew Rotherham, co-founder of the nonprofit Bellwether Education Partners, which has been studying how school transportation limits parental choice. "It's a struggle for parents to get their kids to a charter school and in suburbs that are very car-dependent where people may have to go great distances, choices start to become out of reach."

Often "low-income minority kids end up going the furthest to get to schools," he explains. "That's a function of parents being in communities where they may not have a schooling option that they want."

Laster drives between 35 and 40 minutes each way to get Daniel to school.

"After I drop him off at school," she says, "I'll just go to the park. And typically I'll spend my whole day there in meetings back-to-back or on phone calls." Her longest days span from 8:30 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon. She doesn't have reliable WiFi, and when she needs to use the bathroom she uses the public restroom in the park.

"If Daniel was provided with transportation to get to school," she says, "I could do my work more efficiently." Laster, who spent nearly 13 years in the San Diego public school system, now works in education reform at the National Parents Union. 

"There's no funding from the state of California that is offered to charter schools for transportation. It's not even a line item on their budget," she explains. "We have a local control funding formula, we have what is called the Local Control and Accountability Plan, and there are no resources granted for public charter schools for transportation."

Skeptics might ask why districts should be required to transport kids to another neighborhood or another county just because their parents are dissatisfied with local schools. After all, they have the option to walk or take the bus to their zoned school already.

But "it really comes down to what is your vision for the public education system," argues Rotherham. "If parents want to make a choice, their kids can get there in an equitable and efficient way. The school choice argument is actually that the system should be responsive to the parents. They're the ultimate stakeholders."

"If we were to look at what happens with African American or black males in this country if they're unable to read and write then and if they're excessively punished, that's what we call a school to prison pipeline. I don't want my son on the school to prison pipeline," says Laster. "I want him to stay on the path he's on. He's at grade level. He's not failing in English language arts or math, which is huge for fifth-grade black boys in the state of California."

For Laster, transportation is an important part of realizing the promise of school choice. "I want my son to be educated. I want my son to have upward mobility," she says. "So I sacrifice now to make sure that he has the best outcomes possible later in life.

Produced and edited by Qinling Li; interview and narration by Katherine Mangu-Ward; additional editing by Arthur Nazaryan; color correction and graphic by Isaac Reese; audio mixing by Ian Keyser.

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
    Thumbnail for NY Can’t Teach Kids to Read on $30,000 a Year3:19
    NY Can’t Teach Kids to Read on $30,000 a Year
    ReasonVids
    1056 views
    Thumbnail for Jim DeMint: Why Republicans Must Become More Libertarian28:57
    Jim DeMint: Why Republicans Must Become More Libertarian
    ReasonVids
    918 views
    Thumbnail for Ending the Classroom Factory Model: How Technology Will Personalize Education4:55
    Ending the Classroom Factory Model: How Technology Will Personalize Education
    ReasonVids
    885 views
    Thumbnail for GRWM bitmoji edition 😎🔥#ishqyouall #swv #youtube #grwm #bitmoji | Soundarya with varshini - tamil0:41
    GRWM bitmoji edition 😎🔥#ishqyouall #swv #youtube #grwm #bitmoji | Soundarya with varshini - tamil
    invidious
    149 views
    Thumbnail for Legal Weed Did More to Stop Drug Smuggling Than Any Wall10:17
    Legal Weed Did More to Stop Drug Smuggling Than Any Wall
    ReasonVids
    993 views
    Thumbnail for Burn.Notice.S01E0141:00
    Burn.Notice.S01E01
    AOUisgay
    521 views
    Thumbnail for When the news reporter doesn’t realize he’s live 😭 | Haley Kalil0:37
    When the news reporter doesn’t realize he’s live 😭 | Haley Kalil
    invidious
    210 views
    Thumbnail for I hate being asked this #cooking #recipe #foodasmr #food | Louis Gantus0:42
    I hate being asked this #cooking #recipe #foodasmr #food | Louis Gantus
    invidious
    131 views
    Thumbnail for 23 Fascinating Jobs Around The World | Big Business Marathon | Insider Business3:49:19
    23 Fascinating Jobs Around The World | Big Business Marathon | Insider Business
    invidious
    317 views
    Thumbnail for Rabbi Explains the Importance of Sucking a boys Penis after Circumcision2:22
    Rabbi Explains the Importance of Sucking a boys Penis after Circumcision
    bestofpoal
    1564 views
    Thumbnail for The Future of Libertarian Politics (better resolution)9:55
    The Future of Libertarian Politics (better resolution)
    ReasonVids
    928 views
    Thumbnail for Squirrel Buddy to the Rescue.0:16
    Squirrel Buddy to the Rescue.
    bestofupgoat
    423 views
    Thumbnail for First Look At The Leader In The MCU | DoomBlazer0:59
    First Look At The Leader In The MCU | DoomBlazer
    invidious
    167 views
    Thumbnail for Why Hitler Invaded Poland6:48
    Why Hitler Invaded Poland
    bestofvoatxyz
    857 views
    Thumbnail for Ordering chinese food3:44
    Ordering chinese food
    AOUisgay
    521 views
    Thumbnail for How Good Was Adolf Hitler At Chess? | OttoMeister7:23
    How Good Was Adolf Hitler At Chess? | OttoMeister
    invidious
    891 views
    Thumbnail for GB News Host WALKS OUT 'On-Air' over Migrant Perks | The State Chronicle1:28
    GB News Host WALKS OUT 'On-Air' over Migrant Perks | The State Chronicle
    Invidious2
    29 views
    Thumbnail for This is one of the weirdest reactions I've ever seen | NileRed Shorts1:00
    This is one of the weirdest reactions I've ever seen | NileRed Shorts
    invidious
    352 views
    Thumbnail for School board Gestapo meets their match1:30
    School board Gestapo meets their match
    bestofvoatxyz
    824 views
    Thumbnail for Fotos Antiguas de Guadalajara | Planet Raul ( Raul Pax )4:33
    Fotos Antiguas de Guadalajara | Planet Raul ( Raul Pax )
    invidious
    401 views
    Thumbnail for Former U.S. Amb. to Russia McFaul slams Trump for siding with Putin | MSNBC0:52
    Former U.S. Amb. to Russia McFaul slams Trump for siding with Putin | MSNBC
    invidious
    137 views
    Thumbnail for Chicago gets a taste2:22
    Chicago gets a taste
    AOUisgay
    499 views
    Thumbnail for Countdown to SummerSlam: August 3, 2024 | WWE3:04:00
    Countdown to SummerSlam: August 3, 2024 | WWE
    invidious
    272 views
    Thumbnail for Tank Larping0:39
    Tank Larping
    AmericanMuskrat
    1956 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: Little Pink House4:09
    Stossel: Little Pink House
    ReasonVids
    953 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle