COLUMBUS, Ohio — The battle continues over bussing of non-public school students by Columbus City Schools.
Wednesday, Attorney General Dave Yost filed a 57-page emergency motion in the Ohio Supreme Court asking the court to act.
That motion demands Columbus City Schools provide transportation to nonpublic and charter school students “immediately or as soon as possible.”
The emergency motion was the latest development in the ongoing back and forth between the district and Yost. The Ohio Supreme Court ordered CCS to file a response by Monday and no extensions would be given.
Earlier in September, Yost filed a lawsuit against the district after the district opted not to bus some of the nonpublic and charter school students this year. It’s a decision that still affects many students in schools that aren’t in the district.
“I haven't seen anything this egregious uh, in my 13 years of being executive director,” said Dan Dobbs, the executive director of the Ohio Association of Independent Schools. “Safeguards were beefed up in recent years to make sure that parents had more rights and more ability to receiving that transportation for their children.”
The OAIS represents 46 schools throughout the state of Ohio, including eight in the Columbus area.
Ohio law requires public districts to provide transportation to students of non-public and charter schools unless the student has to be driven more than 30 minutes from their assigned public school or if the district can prove it is impractical.
Dr. Angela Chapman, Columbus City Schools Superintendent, spoke with 10TV earlier in September on the matter. She said the district consulted with the Department of Education and Workforce to follow the law when it came to making the decision to cut some transportation services. She also cited the ongoing bus driver shortage.
"We were providing services to families who had chosen a school that was more than 30 minutes away,” Chapman told 10TV’s Carly D’eon. "We cannot act as if there isn't a shortage of drivers because there is. Last year we had significant challenges with our routing. There were many, many late buses, too many days to count. There were too many students on a route. There were buses that were not showing up.”
The decision to stop transporting some of these students by the district has affected some of the area’s schools that aren’t CCS.
“We believe at least twenty students have withdrawn from CPA this school year because of CCS’s transportation issues and have seen decreases in attendance rate for many more. Ultimately, as a stand-alone school, we are unable to provide additional transportation solutions aside from connecting parents for potential car-pooling options. We will continue to take all feasible steps on behalf of our students and families to seek resolution with CCS in accordance with all their obligations to Columbus residents and taxpayers,” read a statement from Tres Marangoni, Executive Director of Columbus Preparatory Academy.
The Diocese of Columbus also relies on CCS transportation and has felt the effects of the decision.
“For over 60 years, we have been fortunate enough in Ohio to have (by law) reliable transportation by the public school systems. However, in recent years we have found that some of Our Catholic Schools families have not experienced that same level of quality transportation,” reads a statement from the Diocese of Columbus. “We value our partners in public education and are working with them to come to a solution to a growing inconsistency in student transportation.”
Columbus City Schools filed a response to Yost's emergency motion, along with a motion to dismiss the attorney general's lawsuit from September 5. In both, the district believes the Attorney General's actions don't have legal merit and calls for the court to dismiss both.
"As of today, Columbus City Schools routes more than 37,000 students, including more than 9,000 charter and nonpublic students. This summer, Columbus City Schools identified additional students that we have been transporting to charter and nonpublic schools over the years beyond the requirements of the law. Transporting these students was overcommitting our staffing levels and keeping us from providing reliable and efficient routing for all students," read a statement from Columbus City Schools. "Columbus City Schools is working diligently with the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to reach solutions to make Columbus City Schools transportation tenable for all students and will continue to follow Ohio law, as we have done throughout this process."
Yost issued the following statement to 10TV on Monday in response to the district:
"Columbus City Schools knows the law and admits they're not busing the kids. They pretty much said, put it on my tab and send me the bill. That does nothing to help the kids."