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Spoke to a friend of my earlier today who was kind of upset, and here's why. The seven year old lives in one town but attends a charter school in another town. The mother drops the child off to school every morning and pick her up every evening from after care. Now why she was upset? The child has been attending the charter school in the other town about 3 miles away for 3 years, the mother was upset that no one told her that she could have been getting reimbursed for driving her child to school every morning instead of puting her on the bus. Reimbursment totals about $425 every 6 months. Now she has to wait till December to get the first check.
Of course I asked why would she need reimbursement if it was her choice not to let the child ride the bus, but even more, why should she recieve reimbursment for something that is her responsibility?
This is what has me pissed, WHY are tax payers reimbursing parents for their decision to transport their child outside of their school district?
As far as I'm concerned, it was YOUR choice to enroll your child in a school outside of your district. Its YOUR choice to drive your child to school instead of placing her on the bus. I don't get this at all. Before anyone chimes in, this is apparently happening in all 620 school districts in NJ not just the urban/Abbott School Districts. I'm a Democrat and this is a ridiculous waste.
is that true? i thought the school had to be a non profit to qualify, which makes sense because you're saving taxpayer money by not attending the public school.
How is going to charter school saving taxpayer money?
I may be wrong, but as I understand it, a child is in a town, going to the public school.
The family decides to send to a charter school
the public school district must pay the charter school the public school cost to send that child to public school
so you say, well the public school doesn't have the child anymore.
Well, where does the public school save money ??
The child was in a class of say 20, now they have 19
they still must pay the teacher
still have the room
still must heat the school
the bus the child was on had 25 on it, now they have 24
still have to pay for the bus
so now the public district has all the original costs for teacher, school, buses etc
PLUS the cost of the charter school bill
PLUS, the parents in the town, who pay the taxes, have no say in how the charter school is run.
or elect a school board.
How does charter schools save taxpayer money?
and throw in this reimbursement (if true) taxpayer pay for that to. Why ?
How is going to charter school saving taxpayer money?
I may be wrong, but as I understand it, a child is in a town, going to the public school.
The family decides to send to a charter school
the public school district must pay the charter school the public school cost to send that child to public school
so you say, well the public school doesn't have the child anymore.
Well, where does the public school save money ??
The child was in a class of say 20, now they have 19
they still must pay the teacher
still have the room
still must heat the school
the bus the child was on had 25 on it, now they have 24
still have to pay for the bus
so now the public district has all the original costs for teacher, school, buses etc
PLUS the cost of the charter school bill
PLUS, the parents in the town, who pay the taxes, have no say in how the charter school is run.
or elect a school board.
How does charter schools save taxpayer money?
and throw in this reimbursement (if true) taxpayer pay for that to. Why ?
i'm not sure if this is directed towards me since I said "save taxpayer money". I'm NOT talking about charter schools, I was talking about non-profits (Catholic, etc).
Is the child special needs? When I worked in public schools (8 years ago was my last year) parents of special ed kids could be reimbursed for transporting the child to another school if the child's home school couldn't provide an appropriate education for the child's needs (which usually translated to if the parents and their advocate thought another district had a better program) in fact in one instance they paid the parent several hundred dollars a month to take the child to the school they wanted. I have never heard of this outside of special needs kids, though, and if they are now doing this I hope something is done about it.
i'm not sure if this is directed towards me since I said "save taxpayer money". I'm NOT talking about charter schools, I was talking about non-profits (Catholic, etc).
Princeton Day School is a not for profit school in Princeton (tuition is 24K for preK-4th and 29K for 7th-12th), we have friends whose kids are bussed from our district (by our district buses) to that school.
Pretty sure this is the case for private schools as well.
I know people are getting this reimbursement (something like $850/yr) for kids going to Pingry and Morristown Beard.
Just checked the document - yep, this applies to "private schools" that are "nonprofit"...I think they are in the same league as Princeton Day School (elite prep schools). I just find it ironic that the wealthy people sending kids to these elite prep schools are getting this transportation funding from the state.
Last edited by snuffybear; 07-01-2012 at 07:23 PM..
Pretty sure this is the case for private schools as well.
I know people are getting this reimbursement (something like $850/yr) for kids going to Pingry and Morristown Beard.
Just checked the document - yep, this applies to "private schools" that are "nonprofit"...I think they are in the same league as Princeton Day School (elite prep schools). I just find it ironic that the wealthy people sending kids to these elite prep schools are getting this transportation funding from the state.
It's the township, in my case. My BOE has it's own transportation dept.
But yes, that's how it works.
In my township it's also $850 reimbursement per child. If the township provides bussing to private (non-tax payer funded) schools, and there is room for your child on the bus, you get nothing. If there is no room for your child on the bus, or the township doesn't provide a bus to pick 3 kids up who live in the boonies (but still in the township), you'll get your $850 per kid. If you live within a certain distance (within a mile or maybe two, I don't remember) of the school, you are not offered bussing, you have to arrange your own transportation.
Property taxes include a huge portion of taxes dedicated to the public schools. Bussing is part of that school tax. If the township isn't going to provide a bus for all the kids who live in the town and go to a non-public school, the LEAST they can do is give you a few bucks backs. What they do with the rest of the thousands of dollars of your tax monies not spent on your children who do not attend those public schools is spend it on those who do.
The public schools in my township are WELCOME for the thousands of tax dollars I have paid to them, and they have never, and will never, spend on my kids.
Last edited by Informed Info; 07-01-2012 at 08:22 PM..
Good Afternoon!!! My husband and I both work full time and I am also a full time student. We are far from wealthy or rich, we just put in extra hours to send our kids to private school. Yes, we do get a transportation refund, I drive 23 miles every day to and from the school. Yes, it was my choice to do the commute. The public schools in my area are extremely over crowded, and the learning system and drop out rates are sky rocket. Although it was my choice to do the commute, and also my choice to work the extra hours to afford the tuition. My husband and I are also tax payers, and it's not our fault that the district school ratio at this moment is 23:1. I encourage anyone that qualifies to apply because, nevertheless, we pay high taxes that are removed from our checks weekly, we know have to pay a fortune for health insurance, and homeowners tax is ridiculous. If you can get a small portion of everything the government takes from you back. Then go for it!!!!
Hi,
I'm curious as to why someone would get upset if someone chose to have their child attend another school for well thought out reasons. Before condemning someone based on closed minded views, or self centered views, why not take a step back and think on the possible reasons, instead of simply comparing what you've done and how that decision should be good enough for everyone else.
You have a choice of having your child bused or driving them yourself. Every situation is different, and every circumstance is different, which is obviously a determining factor in the decision to have them ride on the bus vs. driving them. Decisions could be based, on the child or parents comfort level, age of child, parents job situation, vehicle situation, etc. I would think that there is a cost associated for paying the Bus drivers, the purchase and maintenance of the vehicles, and gas consumption, so it's probably fair to say our tax dollars go towards that cost. Since some parents drop their children off, the state is simply giving tax dollars back to the parent who are not participating in the bus transportation yet contributing to this transportation cost. This way everyone contributes and receives something for this tax contribution. It's not fair to suggest to someone that if they choose to not bus their children they still have to contribute to this cost for others. If you're located in the same county then you have the option of attending schools in different cities/towns within that county. Enough said!
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transportation reimbursement
