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Parent/Guardian Transportation Reimbursement Program
Due to the state's difficult fiscal position, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the Governor have recommended that funding for the Parent/Guardian Transportation Reimbursement Program be reduced to zero. This program was enacted into law by the General Assembly in 1986 and is designed to provide financial assistance to the families of public and nonpublic school children, grades K-12, to whom free busing is not provided. The program is particularly important to nonpublic school families as many school districts only offer busing to nonpublic school students along their routes.
Whatever the reasons,
this proposed move is grossly unfair. Nonpublic school parents pay their entire
allotment of property and other taxes to support public schools, yet now they
are being told not even a meager reimbursement for transportation expenses can
be provided. At current funding levels, the program's funding provides roughly a
$100 transportation reimbursement per student, far short of the actual costs of
families driving their own children to school. Still, it is at least some relief
from the costs our families incur and thereby save the state.
So we must work to restore funding for this important program. ICNS is asking our schools to contact your state representative and senator and ask them to help restore this funding. For this purpose, a sample letter may be found at the end of this email. Use this sample letter in a letter-writing campaign, email effort and/or as script for a personal phone call.
Dear families of [name of school]:
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has proposed cutting funding for the Parent/Guardian Transportation Reimbursement Program to zero. This program provides needed financial reimbursements to families denied bus service for their children. We ask that you immediately communicate with our State Senator and Representative and ask each of them to oppose this budget cut and restore the $12 million appropriation from last year. If you do not know your state representative and senator, you may visit the General Assembly website at www.ilga.gov and click on Legislator Lookup in the lower right hand section of the home page.
A sample letter is below. You may communicate with your senator or representative by phone, email, letter or fax.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DATE
ADDRESS
ADDRESS
ADDRESS
SALUTATION:
I write today on behalf of the [name of school] community to express our concern regarding one aspect of the Illinois State Board of Education’s (ISBE) Fiscal Year 2010 proposed budget. ISBE has proposed the reduction of funding for the Parent/Guardian Transportation Reimbursement Program from nearly $12 million to zero.
The Transportation Reimbursement Program was enacted into law by the General Assembly in 1986 and has provided financial assistance to public and nonpublic school families, grades K-12, to whom free busing is not provided ever since. The program is particularly important to nonpublic school families as every year more school districts reduce the availability of useful busing to our students.
As nonpublic school parents, we pay our entire allotment of property and other taxes to support public education. Now we are being told that not even a meager reimbursement for transportation expenses can be provided. This move is grossly unfair. At current funding levels, the program’s funding provides roughly a $100 transportation reimbursement per student – far short of the actual costs of driving our children to school. Still, it is at least some relief from the costs we incur and thereby save the state.
The General Assembly has recently recognized the importance of the Transportation Reimbursement Program and sought to increase – not cut – funding. The General Assembly increased funding for this program to nearly $28 million in the Fiscal Year 2007 budget. Unfortunately, former Governor Blagojevich vetoed this increase and another $2 million from the original line-item.
We urge you to help restore the $12 million appropriation from last year to this important program. Considering the $1.6 billion nonpublic school families saved Illinois taxpayers last year, maintaining this program and helping us get our children to school every day seems a small price. Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.
Thank you for your advocacy.
Sincerely,
Principal (or Parent)
