Financing of Student Transportation in Private Schools - Essay Example

Introduction Transportation in private schools is to specific conditions and procedures. However, the overall trend is that District boards are given the responsibility of allocating funds from the State. Alternatively, parents may take up this role or transport agencies may also do the same. General options Private Schools have the option of getting funding from the Department of Education within any federal state. However, one has to meet certain criteria in order to qualify. First of all, there is a need to advertise for State funding. This is done through a bidding process. If the State acknowledges the bid, then a private school can start receiving funds for their transport costs. Bidding renewals are to be done annually. However, to every rule, there is an exception. If a school happens to have vehicles owned by their District, then there is no need to renew their bid. Additionally, some schools may have opted to enter into a joint agreement with another. This implies that one school may apply on behalf of another. Similarly, some schools may be part of a coordinated transportation agency as asserted by Say student (2008). The Board of education is also given the mandate to reject applications for transport financing in the event that applications are made poorly. On the other hand, there is a maximum student number that can be covered by and district board. This implies that when the optimum number has been reached then all other applications will be rejected. Additionally, in the event that a private school is applying for transport funding yet it only deals with special children, then the board of education is mandated to reject their application. Similarly, if a school provides only vocational training or it provides only technical skills, then they are not eligible for state funding. When student's residential areas are over twenty miles away from the school, then they may not necessarily get access to State funds. Federal States also require that children meet certain age criterion in order to enroll for the program. For instance, in the State of New Jersey, children who are between kindergartens and age twelve are eligible for transportation services provided by the District in elementary schools. It should be noted that it is not mandatory for private schools to receive funding from their respective District school boards. But they have the option of utilizing other options available for them. For instances, it is not mandatory for a private school to receive funding in the event that their residents are located beyond two and a half miles and two miles for high schools and elementary schools respectively. There are also cases in which a school is located out of State but may wish to get funding from a school district Board. This is only permissible in the event that the school is located in a county with a third class rating. Additionally, funding may also be granted to those individuals who are found in counties that have a population greater than eighty thousand. However, this population may not exceed one hundred and twenty thousand people as put forward by the Toronto Catholic District School Board (2007). . Some private schools may be not for profit organizations. Such schools are also not mandated to receive transport funding, but may gain access given the fact that most of them are have tax exemption status. However not for profit institutions are usually required to display solid evidence bout their status. This is done by bringing an affidavit that will act as a form of evidence. There area also cases in which some schools have met all other criteria enlisted above but happen to be located twenty miles away from their schools. The legislature normally examines such schools on an annul basis. Once they find that these people meet the right criterion then they may get funding for transportation services. For example, if a school is located in counties chosen by parliament, and those students live around thirty miles away from their homes, then they are eligible for student funding. Some students in private schools have the option of getting access to District transportation services in the event that those who live less than twenty miles have occupied their seats and there are still some remains. Such students are also required to utilize some of the bus stops provided by the District. Alternatively, Public school board associations (1995, p 2) claim that students who fail to meet all the above criteria may decide to use private means to fund their own transport costs. For instance, parents may volunteer to meet al the expenses that come with transporting their children. School boards are supposed to come up with a sound strategy that is in keeping with the District school boards regulations. However there may be some parents who fail to raise the additional fees or who may not be financially endowed to organize for their children's transport privately. The State requires that such children be give opportunities to make use of school transport system. But before this occurs, school boards must determine whether a specific parent is really is really financially challenged. There is a set criterion made out for such kinds of parents. Private Schools are always supposed to provide application forms for transport services. These forms are supposed to be obtained by parents on an annual basis. Each student is supposed to be given these forms. Different States have different deadlines for submitting these forms. Consequently, those who fail to do so may be neglected when considering them. Various Districts are given responsibilities to arrange for the transportation systems. For instance, they are expected to issue pout all the application forms fro private school transportation systems. Additionally, Districts are also given the responsibility of considering all the applications in line with established criteria. They are then supposed to decide which means of transport will be used by a certain school. They have the option of choosing between nof the following; -Contracted vehicles -Vehicles owned by the district -Coordinated transportation agencies -Common carriers -Joint agreements for transport However, there may be some District boards that have decided that they cannot provide any form of transport for a give means of transport. It should also be noted that there may another district board that has applied for transportation on its behalf and this means that they are not eligible for transportation as described by the New Jersey Department of Education (2007). Some students may opt to go for student loans especially those ones in higher levels of education. This is the issue of private student loans. The following groups may be given student loans that even cover transport services; -Graduate students -Undergraduate students -Continuing students -Student's parents Such students are required to examine which criterion is most appropriate for their kind of situation. For instance, it may be necessary to ask for transport funding under the work study program, scholarship grants, hoe equity loan or the private student loan schemes. All the details of the following schemes will depend upon the specific learning institution. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2007) explain that the advantage of going for such a scheme is that students get the benefit of learning how to manage their finances in the best way possible. This is usually ion relation to other types of expenses beside transportation services. For instance, students are taught how to budget their finances. Additionally, they are taught how to reduce some unnecessary expense. Besides this, they are also given tips on understanding how financial services in their respective institutions are run. Some students who need funding for their transportation needs may also get the benefit of supporting other segments of their education. As soon as they have made up their minds to apply for this kind of support, they can start receiving those benefits. It should be noted that private student loans are becoming extremely important methods of finance for most students in higher levels of education. However, such students should only go for unconventional methods in the event that they have not received acceptance by any of the other kinds of methods. It should be noted that private student loans may not be linked to the government. Most of them are established for profit making purposes. There are some cases where students have landed themselves in serious trouble because of using such methods to fund their school cost (including costs). Private School loan schemes usually charge high interest rates and only students who feel that they can cover such costs should apply for these schemes. There are also factors that need to be considered when applying for student loans. For instance, the issue of credit markets is really relevant to this scheme. For example, the United States has been dealing with the issue of sub prime mortgages. This has drastically affected credit markets. However, students are going around this problem by applying for their student loans as early as possible. As soon as some students get their award letters, most of them are dashing to secure their loans because they may not be able to do so in the future and this will undermine the possibility of surviving in school thereafter. It should also be noted that studemts normally experience a lot of difficulties when trying to balance the entire amount given o them by these institutions. For example, they may have problems trying to meet all the other bigger expenses like housing and tuition that they forget there are some daily expenses that need to be met. Most institutions rarely have student loans set out for transport services alone. They usually give loans to cover blanket needs and this may prove to be rather tricky for them. Some of them may be left with no other means to met transport cost by the end of their semester. It is therefore necessary for students opting for such a method of funding o exercise a lot of caution as explained by Toronto Catholic District School Board (2007). Conclusion Funding of transport services in most private schools is mostly done by the State through District School boards. The later are supposed to make arrangements for the method of transportation to be used by particular schools. They are also given the mandate to decide which schools are eligible. Schools are only funded by the department of Education if they reside within certain miles of their school, if they offer conventional education services and if the students meet age requirements. Those who do not meet these criteria may chose to organization a private form of transportation with their schools and pay for it themselves. However, there may be times when this is not possible and such students are supposed to be given access to the school transport system if it has been established that their parents are quite needy. Lastly, students may get funding for transport services through student loans. However, this method requires a lot of discipline and smart spending. Reference: Toronto Catholic District School Board (2007): School Bus Transportation, retrieved from http://www.tcsdb.org/ accessed on 23rd May 2008 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2007): School finance and accountability, retrieved from http://www.state.ma.us/sec/spr/sprinf/infocode.htm accessed on 23rd May 2008 New Jersey Department of Education (2007): Private School Transport, retrieved from Procedures http://www.nj.gov/njded/finance/transportation/trans.htm accessed on 23rd May 2008 Public school boards associations (1995): Aid to private schools, a report for the Department of Education, p 2 Say student (2008): Private Student loan and student financial aid, retrieved from http://www.saystudent.com/ accessed on 23rd May 2008 . Read More