On February twentieth at 3 pm, the Oregon Home Committee on Training will maintain a public listening to on HB 3014, a invoice that would give colleges extra flexibility in how they spend transportation {dollars}. At the moment, Oregon regulation says monies put aside for college transportation can solely be spent on buses or vans.
Supporters of this invoice, together with Portland-based nonprofit Oregon Walks and Alameda Elementary College trainer and bike bus chief Sam Balto, really feel prefer it’s time to increase the chances of those funds to allow them to assist issues like public transit passes and funds to crossing guards, in addition to leaders of motorbike buses and strolling faculty buses.
The introduction of this invoice (which is included in our information to the 2023 Oregon legislative session) was prompted by a faculty bus driver scarcity that has created a faculty transportation disaster in Oregon for a number of years now. This drawback resulted in Portland Public Colleges slicing bus service for routes to Lincoln and Benson Excessive Colleges from areas outdoors of TriMet’s service space, a transfer that put some households in a transportation lurch.
Packages like Balto’s bike bus have demonstrated there are sensible alternate options to high school buses for lots of scholars. However one of many issues holding again the event of extra bike buses throughout the state is the truth that most districts can’t at the moment can’t use their transportation funds to pay individuals to guide teams of youngsters strolling and biking to high school. They should depend on volunteers as an alternative, which isn’t sustainable for mass implementation of those transportation modes.
Right here’s an excerpt from the invoice textual content:
The principles adopted below this subsection should permit for the reimbursement of prices incurred by a faculty district in lieu of offering transportation, together with public transit passes, fee for crossing guards or pedestrian or bicycle group leaders and fee for the promotion and coordination of different transportation choices. In no occasion could a faculty district obtain an quantity below this paragraph that’s higher than the quantity the college district would have acquired below paragraph (a) of this subsection for offering transportation…
In a one-pager from invoice supporters East Multnomah County Colleges and Oregon Walks, they level out the invoice doesn’t give districts any further funding for brand new programming.
“At the moment, faculty districts can solely use State College Fund Transportation Grant {dollars} to cowl sure sorts of transportation,” the temporary states. “[This bill] merely provides them higher flexibility in how they use their current {dollars} to allow them to do what it takes to get all college students to high school.”
Balto has lengthy been advocating for paying bike bus and strolling faculty bus leaders, saying it is going to be what actually suggestions the dimensions for these various transportation modes to be seen as reliable similar to the yellow faculty bus or the automobile drop-off line. HB 3014 is what might make this occur for Oregonians.
The invoice at the moment has 11 sponsors — seven within the Home and 4 within the Senate. All of them are Democrats. The invoice will likely be heard within the Committee on Training. Two of the payments sponsors, Rep. Courtney Neron (D-26) and Rep. Hoa Nguyen (D-48) are members of that committee (Neron is chair).
So, if you would like your children to have the ability to experience a motorbike bus otherwise you simply wish to see extra TikTok movies of cute youngsters driving bikes en masse (and who doesn’t?), take note of this invoice. The listening to will not be on the committee agenda but, however needs to be posted right here quickly.
UPDATE, 12:50 pm: Invoice sponsor Rep. Khanh Pham is internet hosting a motorbike bus day in Salem to indicate assist for the invoice on the listening to. See the flyer under for particulars.
Study all of the payments on our watch checklist with our 2023 legislative information.
Taylor has been BikePortland’s workers author since November 2021. She has additionally written for Avenue Roots and Eugene Weekly. Contact her at taylorgriggswriter@gmail.com
