DAYTON, Ohio -- Through a strong, collaborative community effort, all high school students attending Dayton Public Schools and local charter schools will have free transportation to school for the upcoming school year. The transportation plan was announced today at a news conference with City of Dayton, Montgomery County, Greater Dayton RTA, Dayton Public Schools, and business leaders present.

High school transportation for Dayton Public Schools (DPS) and charter schools was eliminated as a result of the recent failure of the DPS levy. In recent weeks, community leaders representing both the private and public sectors have been meeting to find a way to provide transportation for the students. A one-year transportation plan is being made possible through financial support from Montgomery County, the City of Dayton, Greater Dayton RTA and Dayton Public Schools.

The projected cost of transporting students for this academic year was $2.8 million. Through system changes, cost cutting, and subsidized bus passes, the Greater Dayton RTA was able to cut the cost to $1.8 million. Dayton Public Schools will pay its share through a $600,000 state subsidy that would not have been received if bus service was eliminated. The City of Dayton and Montgomery County will each provide $350,000 as a one-time subsidy to the school district. Additionally, Montgomery County has worked with DPS to identify some ways in which the County’s Job and Family Services Department can provide for critical social services, freeing $500,000 of DPS funds for transportation needs.

“Without bus transportation, many of our most at-risk children will simply not get to school. As a community, we can’t let this happen,” said Montgomery County Commission President Deborah A. Lieberman. “We know from our Out of School Youth initiatives that high school dropouts are 2 ½ times more likely to be on public assistance and that the overwhelming majority of inmates in the Ohio prison system are high school dropouts. This shows the direct and significant impact on the County’s human services system,” said Lieberman.

“The Dayton City Commission recognizes the steady progress the Dayton School Board has made in recent years, and we do not want to see that momentum stall,” Mayor Rhine McLin said. “There have been tangible improvements in attendance and graduation rates among Dayton Public School students, and the new construction of schools is adding to our own neighborhood stabilization and enhancement efforts. Taken together, we believe the Dayton Public Schools are moving in the right direction, and we must all pull together to keep that momentum alive.”

“The collaboration of our local partners has made this school year much more promising for our secondary students and their families,” said Dayton Board of Education President Yvonne Isaacs. “While the fix is a temporary one, we are grateful for the support of the RTA, Montgomery County, and the City of Dayton who have worked with us to find a way of providing high school transportation that is so necessary for students’ academic success.”

“The loss of transportation at the secondary level would have devastated our efforts to raise student achievement, as well as efforts to maintain a steadily climbing graduation rate. You can’t teach a student who isn’t in school,” said DPS Superintendent Percy Mack.

Leaders caution that this transportation plan is just a one-year fix, and that it is imperative that the long-term financial issues the school district faces are addressed. To that end, community leaders pledged to continue this partnership with Dayton Public Schools to assist in passing a new levy and also to support a proposed performance audit that will help the district continue the academic progress made in recent years.

“The academic success of the Dayton school system is so important to the City and our region,” said Michael Greitzer, co-chair of the Downtown Dayton Partnership. “The business community is solidly behind these efforts, and we commend our elected officials and public partners for working together. Resolving the district’s long-term financial issues will take all of us working together, and this announcement today is the first step.”