By Mary Frances McCarthy
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 3/11/04)

The wheels on the bus go round and round — but not for students at non-public schools in Virginia.

This is the first issue being addressed by members of the Virginia Coalition to End Discrimination in General Services for Education (VA EDGE). The coalition was formed less than a year ago in order to educate parents and state delegates on the possibility of having yellow school buses transport all children to school, whether they attend public or private schools.

"Let’s get parents off the road, let’s make our commute easier and let’s get our children in the safest form of transportation," Valerie Newell, president of VA EDGE, said. "Why aren’t our children able to ride the safest form of transportation?"

Mary Flynn Boener, a parishioner of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Triangle and director of VA EDGE, has two children enrolled at Holy Family School in Dale City. Boener was president of the Parent Teacher Organization and raised the issue of busing with them in October 2002. She moved here in 2000 from New York, where private schools are not only provided with busing, but also food programs and books. At Holy Family, Boener met Newell, who moved to the area from Ohio, where busing also was provided for all students.

In January 2003, Boener and Newell, members of the newly formed Legislative Affairs Committee, addressed the Office of Catholic Schools on the possibility of busing. By September 2003, with the help of Susan Krawczyk, vice president of legislative and legal affairs, and member of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Vienna, VA EDGE was formed as a legal entity, a 401c non-profit group. Boener, Newell and Krawczyk were joined by Debra Hinson-Joyner, vice president of media affairs and Celeste Bauer, treasurer, both from St. Leo Parish in Fairfax; to create the first board of VA EDGE

Although it was begun by a group of parents with children in Catholic schools in the Diocese of Arlington, it has grown to include parents of many non-public schools — parochial and secular — from all over Virginia.

Virginia is in the minority in not providing transportation for non-public school students. According to the U.S. Department of Education, nearly 30 states currently provide busing to non-public schools (www.ed.gov/pubs/RegPrivSchl/chart3.html).

Whether a parent sends their child to public school or chooses private school, they pay the same amount to the Commonwealth in taxes each year. Every public school system has a "per pupil expenditure" to estimate the cost of sending a single child to school. Parents of children in non-public schools are contributing to the tax base funding schools their children are not attending. Each fall, parents of non-public school children tell the state where their child would go to school if they went to public school. Where does the "per pupil expenditure" go that has been designated for their child?

Catholic schools in the Arlington Diocese save taxpayers more than $180 million per year based on data from the Virginia Department of Education. In Fairfax County alone, with more than 7,000 students attending Catholic schools, over $70 million is saved.

VA EDGE is not asking for $180 million. They simply want the yellow buses that pass by their homes and schools each day to stop and pick up their children.

Hinson-Joyner finds it sad that while waiting in the carpool line to drop off her son at St. Leo School in Fairfax, she has seen elementary school children getting off a city bus. It is sad, not only that parents have to resort to sending their child to school with strangers, but also that these children have to pay for their own transportation to school. If school buses were available, parents could be assured that their children were riding to school with other children from their neighborhoods.

VA EDGE currently is working to educate state delegates, mailing materials and scheduling meetings with members of the Virginia General Assembly in the hope that Virginia Code can be clarified so that localities will provide school bus transportation, and other general services including books, computers and meals to all students.

The law that applies to school bus transportation is section 22.1-176 of the Virginia Code. While it does not state that transportation must be provided, it does not say the state cannot provide it. VA EDGE wants to amend this to clarify that school districts can allow busing to non-public school students.

In the letter to delegates, VA EDGE outlines the research the group has done and states, "That failure to provide bus transportation to non-public school students amounts to discrimination."

In 1947, the Supreme Court ruled in Emerson v. Board of Education that it would not violate federal laws for states to provide transportation to children in private schools. It reiterated this ruling in the 1971 case of Lemon v. Kurtzman when it established the "three-prong" constitutionality test to determine if a program for non-public schools can be approved. Under the Lemon test, a program is considered constitutional if: "a secular legislative purpose exists for the program (e.g., public safety and convenience); the primary effect of the program neither advances nor inhibits religion; and the program does not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion."

According to the National Coalition for School Bus Safety, yellow school buses are the safest form of transportation (www.ncsbs.org). Aside from safety, busing students to private schools would free parents from the requirements of driving their children to school — decreasing the number of cars on the road, and easing congestion on residential roads in the morning and afternoon hours. It would also make it easier for parents to take advantage of public transportation and carpools.

Parents are spending sometimes more than two hours a day driving their children to and from school and waiting in carpool lines. In a fund-raiser at St. Leo School last spring the first space in the carpool line was one of the most popular items up for auction.

Because VA EDGE is working for the good of all non-public school children, they are working toward the goal of equality, of bussing not only public school children, but children in Catholic schools, Christian schools and independent private schools. If every child is treated equally, how can the state be accused of "excessive entanglement with religion?"

To show support for their concern, VA EDGE has gathered signatures of more than 2,000 parents and voting constituents who support this legislation and want to "instill the ideal of unity, and not segregation, in the young minds of our children."

By this fall, they hope to identify a sponsor and initiate a bill.

Through their work to amend legislation, members of VA EDGE realize they are teaching their children an important lesson in politics and democracy. "When you get together collectively as a group, you can make things happen," Newell said. "You can make a difference and your votes count."

And the children believe their parents will succeed. When she visits Holy Family School, Boener said children ask her, "Did you get our school bus yet?"

The next VA EDGE meeting will be held March 27 in Fairfax at 10 a.m. Those interested in volunteering are invited to attend. For more information on VA EDGE call 703/897-1531 or go to vaedge@vaedge.org.