WHEREAS, The School District of Philadelphia is required to provide for certain operational standards which ensure the equitable delivery of education to students throughout the City of Philadelphia regardless of whether they attend school at the School District of Philadelphia, including transportation services; and
WHEREAS, In an attempt to reduce costs to the district, the School District of Philadelphia has implemented a policy of providing SEPTA transpasses to 7th and 8th grade students rather than providing traditional yellow school bus transportation; and
WHEREAS, Prior to the start of the 2017-2018 Academic Year, The School District of Philadelphia moved to implement its own transportation policies upon the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Schools and other Equitable Services Eligible Educational Institutions, and then chose to delay implementation until the 2018-2019 Academic Year; and
WHEREAS, The School District of Philadelphia operates 22 middle schools with 11,602 enrolled students; and
WHEREAS, The Archdiocese of Philadelphia offers students 34 schools in the City that would be impacted by the School District of Philadelphia’s transportation policy, all of which are K-8 institutions. It is estimated that those schools will still receive the same number of daily bus trips despite any shift towards the SEPTA transpass policy; and
WHEREAS, There are an estimated 910 students which will be impacted by the 7th and 8th grade busing policy who attend Archdiocese of Philadelphia schools. This does not include the additional 372 students impacted whose older siblings will be forced to ride SEPTA instead of accompanying them on a yellow school bus; now, therefore, be it
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Council of the City of Philadelphia, Does hereby call upon the School District of Philadelphia to guarantee access to traditional yellow school bus transportation for 7th and 8th grade students attending the School District of Philadelphia, Schools of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and other eligible educational institutions.
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