Chris Jackson: Continue the Practice of Allowing Sacred Heart Students Use County Busing

Last Thursday, one day before school started back in Lawrence County, parents of students at Sacred Heart Schools in Loretto and Lawrenceburg were abruptly informed that Lawrence County School System buses would no longer transport their children to and from school. The decision was made by the school system after their insurance provider determined the situation presented a liability issue. Lawrence County School buses had previously transported Sacred Heart students for over 60 years.

Since this last minute decision, I have received numerous phone calls from parents, family members and constituents regarding the situation. While I am and will always be a strong advocate for our public schools, these private school parents rightly point out that they pay the exact same county taxes (property tax, sales tax and wheel tax) that public school parents pay that help fund our school system, including the school buses.

The only difference is they just elect to pay additional money to send their children to private school. That means, by their choice of course, when they send their children to private school, their tax dollars pay for public education services that their own children will never utilize or benefit from. At the end of the day, their financial contribution to our school system is a net positive.

While I understand that some may say that when a parent sends their child to private school, they opt out of all of the services of the public school system. But given the precedence already established by this long standing tradition as well as the small financial and logistical impact it presents to our county, I think this is a unique exception for our community. That's why I think the students in question, including any other private school students, should be afforded the option of using our county's busing (as they have for six decades) if they so choose. After all, their families are already paying for the service via their tax dollars.

As of writing this letter, I know our Director of Schools and School Board are working diligently to find a workable solution to this situation. As one commissioner who represents an area affected by this change, I respectfully urge them to act swiftly in the days to come so we can again provide transportation to all students in Lawrence County and ensure all taxpayers are able to utilize the services they responsibly help fund.