Orange County NC Website
Z <br />effectively. This is evidenced by the fact that the state has <br />given Orange County' pupil transportation system a high - <br />efficiency rating. <br />Enhanced efficiency alone, however, cannot compensate for an <br />Insufficient number of buses. Six regular (yellow) school buses <br />are currently doing double secondary school runs. This means <br />that six bus loads of middle or high school students must wait at <br />school for their buses to complete their first secondary school <br />run and then return to make a second run. This creates <br />management challenges for the schools involved. Even with these <br />six buses doing double secondary runs, some buses are still <br />overcrowded. Overcrowding creates liability issues for the <br />district. In addition, these buses experience more "wear and <br />tear" and will have to be replaced sooner than was anticipated <br />when they were acquired. <br />The growing number of exceptional students requiring <br />transportation on specially equipped mini -buses needs to have <br />transportation services that will allow them to spend more <br />instructional time in school and less time on the bus. <br />Parents putting their children on activity buses that travel at <br />night and on interstate highways want to feel certain those <br />children are being transported safely. One activity bus <br />currently in use is 15 years old'. <br />It will take $125,000 to buy three new school buses: one regular <br />(yellow) bus, one mini --bus, and one activity bus. If money were <br />no object and the district could buy .enough buses to eliminate <br />overcrowding and the double secondary runs currently being made, <br />another five regular (yellow) buses would be needed. <br />The school district needs adequate funding to provide safe, <br />efficient transportation for all its students. Transportation <br />demands created by increased enrollments and aging equipment <br />cannot be met with the level of funding that has been <br />appropriated during the past five years. I urge you to support <br />the request of the Chapel hill- Carrboro City Schools for a <br />$900,000 appropriation for recurring capital, of which safe and <br />efficient transportation for our students is a part. <br />