I would like to respond to the editorial on June 15 concerning busing in Davis County.

I, like all parents, am grateful for any physical activity my children receive. This is not a walking issue. This is a safety issue.Davis District has chosen to have a hazardous busing policy. It is funded by a $800,000 county mill levy. Whether this policy should or should not exist is not the issue. The fact is, it does exist. The issue is in how the policy has been administered.

I think most of us recognize we would lose our jobs if we made policy first and then researched the issues. Davis District did not review any of the hazardous routes it was eliminating. In an effort to plan for future population growth, they decided to go back into history to fund all hazardous busing routes that existed before 1988. This is not equitable or efficient. Even a temporary rating system would be less discriminatory than their existing policy.

Davis District has known for over a year it would be downsizing, and yet we did not receive notification until after we had received our year-round track assignments. We were not able to organize as neighborhoods in order to carpool. There are children separated by track from their neighborhood who have both parents working. At this point, track changes have been refused. These children will be walking and not because their parents are unwilling to take responsibility for their safety.

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According to our superintendent, of the $800,000 available by the mill levy for hazardous busing, $550,000 goes toward funding buses for extracurricular activities. General fund money is then used to finance busing not covered by the remaining $250,000.

If your child was going to walk up a narrow road without sidewalks, with cars going 40 mph, across railroad tracks, across an entrance to a park and ride, and then across both a freeway entrance and a freeway off ramp, you might think extracurricular activities were your school board's priorities, not textbooks or children's safety.

Polly Bailey

Kaysville

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