Head Start Students Can Soon Fall Behind Without the School Bus

By Ryan Gray

Need an example of how important school busing is to low-income parents, and why the service is so important to Head Start? Look no further than a recent study performed by the Center on Reinventing Public Education that found a lack of reliable transportation is the main barrier to sending children to better schools outside of their urban neighborhood.

The report was published this month after the center interviewed 600 inner-city parents who earn no more than $75,000 a year. Some interesting findings:

• More than a quarter (27%) of all parents interviewed said they would have chosen a school outside their neighborhood were it not for transportation problems.
• Parents prevented from choosing due to transportation problems indicated less satisfaction with the school attended by their child than parents who sent children to schools other than their nearby school.
• Most children who attend out-of-neighborhood schools are driven by their parents.
• Families now sending their child to charter or private schools have them travel much farther than children going to neighborhood schools.
• Many low-income parents say they would let their child travel farther to a better school, if they could.

Head Start children receive an invaluable service in beginning their education via school bus transportation. But unfortunately, as the survey shows, these children while initially on the right path may soon fall behind if they are unable to receive a better long-term education because they have no way to get there.