School Board to Ask City to Put Students on METRO

The Portland School Committee on April 5th voted 8-1 in support of beginning the process of consolidating some public school transportation services with METRO by giving free bus passes to high school students in the city during the school year. The students would ride the buses voluntarily and report back to city officials on how the system might be improved.

The vote directs the School Board Chair to compose a letter and send it to the City Council, asking them to go ahead with a plan that was crafted by the joint finance committees of the School Board and City Council last fall. That plan was deemed to be unworkable for a number of reasons at a meeting of city and school staffers and Metro officials in February.

However, School Board member Stephen Spring, who is pushing the plan, says that that group misunderstood the intent of the plan, and that it should be elected officials who decide whether the new policy should be pursued.