Private school transportation on NECSD budget ballot

By Katelyn Cordero
Posted 5/8/19

The Newburgh Enlarged City School District is putting the fate of 230 to 250 students’ private education up to vote on May 21. New York State regulations allow for students to be bussed up to …

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Private school transportation on NECSD budget ballot

Posted

The Newburgh Enlarged City School District is putting the fate of 230 to 250 students’ private education up to vote on May 21. New York State regulations allow for students to be bussed up to 15 miles outside the district, in NECSD students are bused up to 18 miles outside the district.


The three extra miles will cost the district $250,000 for the 2019-2020 school year. If the students were absorbed into the district state funding would account for the increase in enrollment, but there would still be a burden to place these students in the public system.


The affected schools include Our Lady of Lourdes in Poughkeepsie, John S. Burke Catholic High School in Goshen, and St. Martin DePorres School in Poughkeepsie among many others outside the 15 mile radius.

Many of these schools are a pipeline for students attending the Nora Cronin Presentation Academy and San Miguel Academy of Newburgh where students often receive scholarships to attend Burke Catholic or Lady of Lourdes.


“This is a real issue, there are a lot of students that for one reason or another the public system does not work for them,” said Mary Diligeo, parent of graduates from Our Lady of Lourdes. “These families rely on this busing to get kids to and from school and to take that away from them would be a travesty, and just not logistical. Our children may not attend the public schools but we pay taxes just the same as everyone else. You are going to bus these kids anyway, it’s a lot cheaper than to bring them into the public schools.”


Newburgh has an average investment of $24,769 per student, the state will cover a portion of that number if enrollment rates go up. Regardless the burden to fit in almost 250 students back into the system is not something to be overlooked. Diligeo and private school parents are hopeful that taxpayers will vote in favor of proposition three on the ballot to keep the mileage limit at 18 miles for private school students in the district from kindergarten through 12th grade.