By John Tozzi
Because the changes did not take effect until Jan. 29, the DOE is expecting to save between $5 million and $6 million this year, according to Education Department spokeswoman Marge Feinberg. A full year of the route changes would redirect $12 million into classrooms, she said.That figure is half of what the DOE expected to pay last year to bus some students required to stay an extra period after school for tutoring – a compromise agreed to in the teachers' contract.In February 2006, in another mid-year change that roiled tight family schedules, about 300,000 lagging students were required to stay after school four days a week for 37.5 minutes of tutoring or enrichment in small groups. Officials could not say this week how much the department actually paid, but they estimated last year that the extra bus routes would cost $24 million from February to June 2006.The $12 million annual savings from consolidating bus routes would be less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the DOE's total $14.8 billion budget. The city's Independent Budget Office estimated last year that pupil transportation would cost the DOE more than $836 million in 2007. The $12 million savings would be about 1.4 percent of the total transportation budget.Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have argued that they are trying to direct as much money into classroom instruction as possible. The bus route changes were intended to eliminate the cost of providing buses for eligible children who get to and from school by other means.It is part of a broader effort to move $200 million into classroom instruction from other areas like custodial services, central offices and energy costs. In the October 2006 news release announcing the changes, the DOE estimated that bus route changes would save “at least” $20 million a year.Some elected officials were furious with Klein over the changes that sent constituents flooding their offices with tales of kindergarten students getting handed MetroCards, siblings being assigned to different bus routes and trips that used to take minutes taking an hour instead.Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) filed a Freedom of Information Law request demanding records, studies and payment information about the bus plan devised by the private consultants Alvarez & Marsal, hired on a $16 million no-bid contract.State Sen. John Sabini (D-Jackson Heights), who has questioned the changes from the start, demanded answers in a letter to Klein that he circulated among Senate colleagues.”Parents and elected officials – taxpayers and their representatives – have been left, like those young students many of us witnessed last week, in the dark and out in the cold,” Sabini wrote.Reach reporter John Tozzi by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 174.
