Spokane Public Schools to reduce middle school walk radius, expanding eligibility for ridership

More Spokane students will be eligible to take the bus to school next year under new rules approved by the Spokane School Board earlier this month.

Spokane Public Schools will shrink the range in which middle schoolers are ineligible for ridership next school year from 1.5 miles “as the crow flies” from a school this school year to 1.25 miles next year.

Some 11- to 14-year-olds were walking over 2 miles to and from school, in the case of some Peperzak Middle School students, across busy intersections that prompted parent complaints at the start of this school year.

A reduction of the radius from 1.5 to 1.25 miles would service 250 additional pupils, said Cindy Coleman, chief finance and business services officer with the district. The bubble shrink will cost an estimated $840,000.

While likely to fluctuate until enrollment becomes clearer after the start of the school year, Coleman said the predictions air on the expensive side.

“The numbers are based on the students that we have right now. So when we lay it out with the students we have enrolled next year, there might be a little bit of a variance,” Coleman said.

Shrinking the boundary to a 1-mile radius, as it was for middle school until 2022 pandemic-induced bus driver shortages, would cost over $1.3 million and service 658 students, Coleman estimated.

All board members endorsed the cheaper option, and board member Michael Wiser reasoned it was more sensible given the haziness surrounding the predictions.

While agreeing with the rest of the board in supporting the cheaper option, board member Hillary Kozel mulled over the million-dollar plan because of the amount of students who may be affected.

“ I think it’s important to spend maybe next year and see what sort of impact that has, the 1.25 miles, before we spend the full,” Kozel said.

The district also eyed changes to bus routing in the name of efficiency. Since signing on with bus provider Zum last August, it has mapped the directions buses take in picking up and dropping off students. In the upcoming year, the district will do routing in-house, meaning Spokane residents can use local knowledge to determine where buses drive.

“We decide where the stops are going to be and what roads they’re going to go down. Just having that local contextual knowledge, I would say that some of our office managers could probably route the entire school district,” Superintendent Adam Swinyard said, adding that many locals have observed buses taking seemingly inefficient roads due to the outsourced routing.

Those residing within the walk boundary can still apply for a seat on the school bus, Swinyard said, with accommodations made whenever possible.

“We would approach it the same way, where even if you don’t qualify, if you can get to a stop and there’s room, you can get on the bus, which felt like common sense,” Swinyard said.

The board’s decision won’t become official until the board approves the whole district’s budget in August.