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4512 Hay Lake Rd S - Ltr. from Julie McMan re: Busing RECEIVED DEC 7 - 2011 To : Transportation Department 15180 Canada Ave Rosemount, MN 55068 CC Jane K Berenz & School Board Superintendant District 196 3455 153rd Street West Rosemount, MN 55068 CC Cris Town Principal Pinewood Community School 4300 Dodd Blvd Eagan, MN 55123 II ACC City of Eagan City Council 3830 Pilot Knob Rd Eagan, MN 55122 To Whom it may concern: I am a parent of a child in district 196 that has been affected by the new busing cut off guidelines. After receiving the letter regarding the Fee For Service Option for busing, I was a little shocked as were many other parents. The letter stated that a new bus stop would be established and that our children may have to walk up to 3 blocks to the new stop should we choose to pay the $250.00 per student/$500.00 family maximum fee. The neighbors discussed it and not knowing where the new bus stop would be, we decided to carpool as we are just literally one hundred fifty feet from the cut off. I was extremely surprised on the first day of school to see that the bus stop had not changed (the letter did state that it may use an existing stop) from last year and was in my yard. The first morning, there were just two students, one that had paid the fee and one that lived down the way and did not have to pay. The second morning, two more students that paid joined the stop. That leaves just two students carpooling. The amount of children utilizing the bus stop has changed from the first week and now one month in. I measured the distance from the edge of my driveway to the corner of my yard where the bus stop is and it measures 100 feet. The drop off which is directly across from my house is about 75 feet. I read the Q&A available on the district website and this is what I found: Q. How are non-busing areas determined? A. The non-busing area is determined by measuring the shortest distance from the student's residence (where the front of the property meets the street), by reasonably safe walkway, street or highway that is accessible to the public, to the assigned entrance of the school the student attends. If any portion of where the front of the residential property meets the street is outside this distance, the student will be provided busing to and from school. The Transportation Coordinator determines the shortest or most direct route. I would think that common sense would prevail and that the shortest, most effective distance to school would the 100 feet from the edge of my driveway to the corner of my yard where the bus stop is. I also have a problem calling the sidewalk on Dodd a reasonably safe walkway. The city of Eagan only plowed the sidewalks twice last year. Yes, we received 80 inches of snow, I understand that. I was told when I called District 196 Transportation Department that it was a city problem. When I called the city, I was informed that one of their plows was no longer working and that the Eagan City council set plowing times to end at 3:30pm M-F and that the streets are the priority. This may not be your problem but when something suddenly gets placed in my lap to be my problem, I do what I can to find out how the whole picture looks. Because of the lack of sidewalk last year, I witnessed students several times a week walking down Dodd (which narrowed from all the snow) in the street. This is a 40 mile an hour road and not a reasonably safe walkway. I saw cars coming around the curve near Wilderness Run Road only to have to hit their brakes, which resulted in swerving, because of the surprise of the students in the street. The snow on the sidewalk at that time was taller than the girls walking. The same girls, every day were in the street because there wasn't a reasonably safe walkway. Q&A further: Q. How are bus stop locations determined? A. Bus stops are established as defined in Policy 707, Student Transportation Basically it states that the stops are chosen because of visibility and a nice huge intersection. When this stop was chosen yet again for this year, didn't anyone think about the fact that there might be a student at that address and how absurd it would be to charge money for someone who lives there to ride the bus? More Q&A: Q. The bus drives right past my house. Why can't it stop at my house? A. The higher frequency of stops make other drivers impatient. This may result in drivers driving around the bus and causes greater safety concerns than the distance a student has to walk to the bus stop. It also delays the bus by increasing the number of stops, making overall student ride time longer. It doesn't just drive by my house every day; the stop is AT my house so there would be no delay. Student space is not an issue as the bus is not even half full. Safety concerns are raised here for no reason and the 2 seconds it takes for a child to board the bus doesn't warrant $250.00 fee. What this has told me that you seem willing to accommodate impatient drivers but yet the sidewalk issue I stated above is not a problem. We have property taxes like everyone else and what you have told us by charging the 5 students within spitting distance of the bus stop is that it costs you $1,250 just to pick up those 5 kids. This fee is not tax deductible and is the equivalent of an expensive taxi cab ride. It is inappropriate to charge the few to pay for the many; we will eventually run out of funding this way. This is what I found online regarding the cuts: Other recommended cuts and added revenues include: • Increasing the distance requirement for regular bus transportation to minimum one mile away from school for elementary students and one-and-a-half miles for middle school and high school students, for $300,000 savings. I feel (especially considering where the bus stop is located) that the Transportation Department is thumbing their noses at us and that the Fee for Service "option" is nothing more than an extortion tactic. Consider-this: the Transportation Department isn't saving any money by not busing our children to school. Your empty seats are not costing you any money, but somehow it will cost us money anyway? I find issue with the fact that the stops in our area have not changed, but that we are required to pay. I have no issue with the fine bus drivers for District 196. They are kind, courteous and enjoy their jobs and the kids in their care. If you keep cutting busing, they lose as their routes are eliminated. The neighborhoods in my area are transitioning from older, empty nesters to more young families with children so eventually there will be more and more children. How many children should walk up and down Dodd in winter with no reasonable safe walkway? Would you trust a Kindergartner or First Grader to stay safely out of the way? How long could you tell the public that this is a city issue? The following was taken from the Fall 2011 Issue of Spotlight: When the district began preparing its preliminary budget for 2011-12 last December, the board agreed to an assumption that the state would cut funding for education by 3.5 percent this year. That assumption, which had to be made before the 2011 legislative session had even started, was based on the size of the budget problem that faced the legislature ($5 billion) and the large percentage of the state budget that education represents (40 percent). Because the district budgeted for a 3.5 percent cut in state funding this year and will end up receiving a 1 percent increase, Superintendent Jane K. Berenz told the board in July that she will not recommend any budget cuts for the 2012-13 school year. When I read this, I interpreted this as budget cuts were made of 3.5% but a 1% increase so why was there a cut to transportation? How does, this translate to $250.00 per child for an existing service and service route? Why are there talks of increasing the distance for next year if the Superintendent isn't recommending any budgets cuts for next year? Did you know that the schools already take just about if not over 45% of our property taxes? (see attached chart from Dakota County) I have already started taking pictures of the road leading to the school and seeing how backed up it gets from all the parents who drive their kids to and from. I see this as a public safety hazard as fire trucks/public safety vehicles are unable to get past should they actually need to during that 10-15 minute time period. I will continue to take pictures of the sidewalks during the winter season including the turn into Pinewood from Dodd. May I suggest that if you want to save money that you limit the number of stops instead of the number of children riding the bus? If the child in the area can reach the bus stop in their general area, they should be able to ride. I have yet to see an overcrowded bus coming and going from Pinewood so I don't see that as an issue that would need to addressed at this time, but it would save time and money for the Transportation Department and isn't that what this is really about? I have enclosed pictures and map for your consideration and I hope you will see as I do that even with the 1 mile, that you can justify the bus stop and charge us all for it. Thank you, Julie McMan -Taxpayer and mother of one current Elementary Pinewood student and one future Pinewood student. ~ f r ~~t . ti~ 3j j ~ ~ ~ - ~~4 ~ r I ~ = r t~.~ 2.k'Y 1 ~ _ t ~ ~ ~ ~'f: ~ ' K' i.~ ~ ~ ` l ~ y e f t ~~t~~'' J~ ~ z ,ry. t q ~ , ' ' ~ `fi'r~p-~ i"r. ~ Y~ z ~ ~,z <y:, L { ~ C ~f _ i`.- ~ s 4 ,k" ^a h~ `Ply( tS ~ ~ t _ ~ V~ ~ ~ S i'~ ♦ f ~ i~ J k . M~~. a r~ gyp,' ~ ~ a ~ ~S ~ . ~ f _ - In ~ ~ .~Y~ ~ w ,f~ 4t 7i°~`f g 1` i ~ k:. ~ ~d~~, a x ~ ~ ?I V ' ` ` < ~ ~ r /Y'. F: i ',I,• C 1~ S ~ f P l+ _ s n ` ~ _ ~ r'; ,«c. . t ~ ~ i ~ ' k 4f1 E'' Tuned In ~ r&: Your Tax B0111 P We know you have important things WE GET LESS to do with your money... TITAN 25 PERCENT OF YOUR PROPERTY hat's why for years the Dakota County Board of Commis- TAX. sinners lias made sure that we have the lowest county tax rate in Minnesota. Your tots l property taxbill is based on your property's market value, Iev ies set by school districts and local governments, v(Aer-approved rclerendum5 assessments, and state aid to local governments. The County sends the hill and collects the money, but we only keep I N 2011, WE'LL about 25 percent of what you pay. I The rest goes to your school GET Ah4)Ci'1 2 r district, your city or township, and special taxing districts like the I I. , ,I1CEN 1 , LESS OIL N'letropolitan Council, Metropolitan Mosquito Control District, YOUR PROPERTY C'on niunity Development Agency and others. 1':1X THAN WE DID IN 2002. I ),ihota C:ountyvNforks hard to make $Ui-ethat the l)oi~ ion ofyour . property taxwe receive is used to puny for your priorities. So we use it tc) keep communities safe (Sherifl'patrals,joil, c=rime prevention and ~ f)rosecution.911. services, eiiil(l protection); tobuild and maintain cur extensive transportation system (road and bridge construction, repaving, snow plowing, t► aflic signal maintenance, transit development); to provide i premier library system (mile libraries, 2002 32,474 books, 92 data bases, online services, child-tech-adult { )V1i it `111-11±'. programs, 210 cumputers with internet); to make gorgeous, wild l P,1ST DECADE, parks available to every resident (5.200 acres. six parks, three 2004 ['11E C.Ot1Ni'Y:;S regional trails, 150 campsites, recreational equipment rental, family PORTION OF programs) to protect families (childhood nutrition, economic A\\ ~ 11Itt1PE'liTy support, long-terns care, p] eventing diseasc), and to protect the. 20C'6 TAX E i I LLS I [AS environment (landfill 1•el ulatia~n. recycling, hazardous waste, air IIHMAINE'D ,ind water quality). S'I;1Ill.E?. 2008 l"Veii though the cost to pruvidc these services ia)ntinues to grow, I r I lie C'o'unty has been steadfast in holding down its portion of your tax bill. In fact, the County will rc;ceive ai smaller percentage Ofyocir 2010 property tax in 2011 than it did a decade ago. I is clialleliging, but: we re committed to providing the quality services you pay forwhile keeping your C;otn1ty tax rate the lowest in the state. ■ $0 $100 $200 $3 $400 500 $600 t i , T4 e , _C~ ...r. gam. gig ~ LRIJ - _ w n , 4' M I y v x r IT, • 100, s