As many of you already know, Boston Public Schools (BPS) is facing a $32 million budget gap for School Year 2010-2011. As a result, BPS Superintendent Carol Johnson has drafted a proposal for possible cuts to the BPS budget to compensate for the funding deficit. One of the proposed cuts is the elimination of MBTA passes for all BPS High School (HS) students.

This means all HS students in BPS will no longer receive T passes to commute to and from school, passing the financial burden for transportation to BPS parents. With the current state of the U.S. economy it is unrealistic to expect parents to find additional funds to pay for their children to commute to and from school.

If parents and/or students are unable to pay, we fear the rate of student attendance may drastically be affected which could lead to a significant increase in student drop out rates.  Despite the recent improvements in the Drop-Out percentages, the rates are still high enough to be categorized as a crisis for BPS. Thus, eliminating transportation funding for high school students is not a risk the district can afford to take at this time.

Please show your support by sending us a response!!!! Click here to see our Facebook invitation to the next BPS Budget Hearing on March 15th at Madison Park High School, 75 Malcolm X Blvd. from 6-8pm!!

http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&tid=1404866121329#!/group.php?gid=97969830807

BPON will submit a statement at the hearing opposing this cut.  Join other students, parents and community members who will have the opportunity to speak out about this issue during public comment. We hope to see you there!!!