Massachusetts mom's kids left without bus service as migrants reportedly add to district's 'financial' strain
Parents of over 100 students in a suburban Boston school district are left to find ways to get their children to class after lack of funding and shortages led to a lack of bus service outside of grades K-6.
Local mom Ashley Francois is one of those parents. After her license was indefinitely suspended for medical reasons three years ago, she says she has faced challenges with getting her kids to school.
"In February of '23, the school system actually filed educational neglect on me," she told "Fox & Friends Weekend" on Sunday.
"One of my children on the IEP [Individualized Education Program] has school refusal, and that's one of the kids not allowed on the bus or taken off the bus, so they just basically gave right into exactly what this child wanted and that's not to be at school."
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"Now you've made it absolutely impossible for me to get him there to access the curriculum, the services that you are specializing for him, so he's not getting to school to get these services," she continued. "Kids aren't going to be able to access any type of curriculum from the Stoughton Public Schools if there's no way to get them there."
As of now, only Francois' elementary-aged student is able to get a bus ride to school. Faced with the new challenge, combined with her strict budget and her inability to maintain a license, she told Fox News she is considering keeping her other kids at home.
"Am I supposed to pay between four to six Ubers a day for the entirety of the school year to get my children to school, and then question how I'm going to pay for my home, the electricity, the food they need to eat, the clothes and school supplies? Because we get probably two pages [list] of school supplies for each grade," she said.
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The bus service controversy comes as Massachusetts recently funded buses for students from the more than 200 migrant families that moved into their community, though local Superintendent of Schools Joseph Baeta insists that isn't the reason for the problem.
In a statement to Fox News, Baeta said the following: "When we completed the process of no-fee busing we received 162 more requests this year. We could not have anticipated such an increase. To that end, we provided busing as of Friday for all K-6 students within our policy."
"We are addressing this issue this coming week (should be close to 100% getting transportation)," the statement continued. "We will know more after Tuesday."
In a separate letter to parents, Baeta said the state of Massachusetts does not require bus transportation for students in grades 7-12, but the state does require transportation for those living in hotels and shelters.
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The letter also said budget restraints left the district with one less bus than last year and a shortage of bus drivers also exacerbated the problem.
"We are utilizing funding the state provides to the district to bus the students living in hotels/shelters," the letter said in part. "The funding for these two buses does not come from our operational budget. It is inaccurate to suggest that these children receiving busing is the reason yours did not. If we were not receiving the funding from the state for the students living in hotels/shelters, we would not be able to have these two additional buses."
In a letter earlier this year, Baeta listed the uptick in student enrollment – partially due to the increased migrant population – as a factor in creating "financial pressures."
Fox News' Kendall Tietz contributed to this report.