Wrentham Elementary School Committee Approves Bus Fee

The Wrentham Elementary School Committee voted at their meeting Tuesday night to institute a $125 per student bus fee for students who live within two miles of the schools.

The fee will be capped at $300 per family.

The committee was originally looking at cutting six buses to meet town budget requirements, though the transfer of $120,000 to the schools at Monday's Town Meeting improved the situation somewhat.

"Certainly, the Town Meeting last night changed a lot," Superintendent Jeffrey Marsden said.

He said the schools were originally looking at a $489,000 deficit, though that number was halved by the town Finance Committee.

"With the additional $120,000, that makes $125,000 our magic number," Marsden said.

The board was presented with three scenarios to reduce the school budget by that amount. The first scenario cut 1.25 teaching positions (including part-time special education, library and instrumental music instructors).

The second scenario cut $80,000 from the transportation fund and imposed a $250 bus fee. The third scenario cut $50,000 from transportation (creating the $125 fee) and cut a half-time special education instructor.

Each reduced a maintenance position. The special education instructor would be retained, but through a different funding source.

"If I had to make a recommendation, I'd choose scenario three," Marsden said. "[With the scenario,] we're not losing any staff, and we're dipping our toe into the bus fee."

Marsden said many towns in the area, like Walpole, Norfolk, Sharon and Norwood, both impose bus fees and have higher spending per pupil than Wrentham.

School Committee member Eric Greenberg said, even though the proposed fee is lower than other towns, it is different from the town's previous modus operandi.

"It's still a culture change," he said.

Committee Chairman Edward Goddard said it would be a good way to ease into fees.

"I think we do need to look at this as a two or three year process," he said. "If we decide to go with a bus fee, it will almost certainly be bigger next year than it is this year."

"We're not close to covering expenses — each bus costs us $36,000," he added.

The committee voted unanimously to adopt the fee.