The Counter-Revolution: NO Bussing

What would John Reynolds think of this?

Milwaukee Public Schools’ longtime busing program could be drastically reduced if MPS Director Michael Bonds has his way. Bonds, who has sponsored a resolution to phase out most busing services within four years, says the $58 million spent on transportation each year could be better utilized by reopening closed schools and restoring cut programs.

Bonds' calculus is simple: 88% of MPS students are minority, so "integration" is simply not a factor. Moreover, the yellow-bus "solution" is harmful to kids:

Bonds said that the extensive busing program adversely affects students and their parents. The long bus ride extends a student’s day, hinders parents from becoming involved in their child’s school and leads to a lack of unity in the student’s neighborhood, since kids who grow up together can be scattered to schools throughout the city, he said.

“It’s disrupting neighborhoods,” Bonds said. “In Bay View, parents don’t want their kids to go to the school because of the demographics. It’s crazy— because parents on the North Side are complaining that they’ve got to send their kids to schools [across town] and they don’t want to go there, either.”

Every single item on that list is unassailable.

Here's hoping Bonds' resolution becomes a policy item.