The Lee County School District has had a significant history of transportation problems which include long bus rides, late buses, early bus pick up times, safety issues and high costs relative to similar districts. The problems go back, in part, to the district’s failure to implement federal anti-segregation laws which resulted in a 30-year federal oversight of school integration in Lee County. The oversight began in 1974 and continued until 2004 at which time the school administration decided to continue the school choice plan which had been in effect during the federal oversight, with one change. Instead of allowing students to choose magnet or IB schools anywhere in the county, the district was divided into three zones and subzones with choice limited to schools within the zones. This change was intended to reduce the cost of transportation while maintaining diversity and increasing academic achievement. Instead, the cost of transportation has risen dramatically, and inexplicably, the number of miles travelled has risen significantly, and ethnic diversity has suffered, as well.

We now have more than 30 schools with minority rates exceeding 60 percent (compared to eight schools in 2003) and some reaching close to 100 percent, after spending over $50 million per year on busing. Moreover, two-thirds of our 10th grade students are reading below grade level with no changes over the last seven years. It is clear that the district has not accomplished its goals of balanced schools and educational gains that were promised.

How might we address some of these very serious concerns? First, it is imperative that the school district conduct a survey of the demographic patterns in Lee County neighborhoods. It is likely that such a survey will reveal that many areas, such as large parts of Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres, have integrated living patterns. Accordingly, there may be no need for busing in such neighborhoods. Also, where heavily poor and minority neighborhoods do exist, those neighborhoods can be paired with more affluent adjacent communities so that busing is limited to short distances. Furthermore, a Supreme Court decision has given school districts more flexibility in assigning students by allowing socio-economic factors, instead of solely race, to be used as the basis for student assignment. Finally, all elementary and middle schools should have equivalent programs. If all of the above conditions are to be met, neighborhood schools are the only logical choice. High schools, on the other hand, would require some limited form of choice due to the fact that it would be impractical for all of them to have the same programs. Of course, current students would be grandfathered to reduce community disruption.

Whatever plan we finally decide on, the school district cannot continue on its current course. Only one high school in Lee County has achieved both state and national averages on SAT/ACT, and our science 11th grade FCAT scores are among the lowest in the state while our per student transportation cost is among the highest in the state. I believe that neighborhood schools represent the best chance for building a more cohesive community and improving our lackluster academic performance. We can either continue to waste tax dollars on busing children all over Lee County or place that money in the classroom to preserve programs such as arts/music and retain the best teachers. I look forward to your opinions.

– Robert D. Chilmonik, School Board District One