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2020: Analysts size up an already-crowded Democratic field

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Around town: Speaking to students and honoring our Distinctive Women

<p>The discovery that Northwest Area School District had been transporting students to non-public schools beyond a distance required by state law raised a few obvious questions that have yet to be satisfactorily answered: How did this happen? Was there favoritism for a few connected parents? Did the district get state reimbursements for transporting those children?</p><p>But there is a separate question of equity for children in rural school districts. Should the distance limit be extended to accommodate the paucity of schools in sparsely-populated areas.</p><p>To recap: The state does not require any transportation of students, explicitly noting such service is a privilege, not a right. But the state <em>does</em> demand that if a district transports <em>its</em> students, it must transport students to any nonprofit, non-public school within 10 miles of the district boundary. The state is also explicit in saying students attending schools beyond the 10-mile limit are not eligible for transportation service from a district.</p><p>The issue at Northwest Area, as reported in Thursday&#8217;s paper, arose when two parents requested their children be transported to Wilkes-Barre Academy, knowing that the district had provided such service at least once before to that school, and had transported students to Wyoming Seminary Lower School. Both are beyond the 10-mile limit.</p><p>The school board responded Wednesday by voting to stop transporting <em>any</em> students to nonpublic schools beyond the 10-mile mandate. It may have been the necessary thing to do, but should it be the only choice?</p><p>One of mothers distraught over the options (driving to and from Wilkes-Barre twice-a-day or moving) suggested the state should consider changing the law and extend the distance for rural, isolated districts.</p><p>On the face of it, this makes some sense, simply to keep opportunities for rural students on par with those in urban centers.</p><p>Consider that Northwest Area has about an 8,600 total population sprawled across two small boroughs and four forested townships. According to the state, the district has all of 1,026 students from pre-K through high school. By comparison, Wilkes Barre City alone has nearly 41,000 people, and Meyers High School alone has almost as many students (964) as all of Northwest Area.</p><p>Is it any surprise that those who consider opening a nonpublic school are more likely to locate in or near Wilkes-Barre and Luzerne County&#8217;s other dense population centers?</p><p>Reworking the law to inject a little perceived equity into the transportation rules is, to be sure, rife with concerns: How would the state determine when a district was isolated enough to justify extending the limit? How much would the limit be extended? How much more in public dollars (if any) should be spent on private school students? Would a more equitable solution simply eliminate the requirement districts transport nonpublic students?</p><p>It would be a difficult undertaking to reconsider these particular rules, but it seems reasonable to assume the education landscape has shifted dramatically enough in the decades since they were first promulgated to justify such a review.</p><p style="text-align: right;"><em> &#8212; Times Leader</em></p><style>
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Our view: Northwest busing situation raises many questions