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Ahh, the joys of being a Jewish day school parent. In addition to breaking bank with tuition, we get none of the educational perks our hard earned tax dollars are meant to earn. Of course, this is a choice we’ve made in order to provide our children with the best Jewish and English education our money can buy, but it still stings. In some communities, the sting goes beyond sacrificing the free education and extends to sacrificing free school transportation.
Here in Chicago, many day school parents remember the era when our state did not provide transportation funding for private schools. Families had to provide transportation several times a day for kids of different ages on different schedules. It was quite a nightmare, and certainly wasn’t conducive to both parents holding down a 9-5 job. Additionally, the mass influx of traffic every day at pick-up time didn’t exactly lead to friendly neighbor relations near our school. Finally, the solution of organizing families into carpools to spread the distribution of driving led to a new four part personality test extending beyond Rabbi Illa’i’s original version:
Bi’shloshah devarim adam nikar: b’koso, uv’keeso, uv’kaaso, uv’carpool.
The true nature of a person is recognized through four things: his ‘cup’ (how he acts after drinking), his ‘wallet’ (his business integrity and how he spends his money), his ’anger’ (if he controls his temper), and his ‘carpool’ (if he behave responsibly and fairly with his carpool partners).
Several years ago, Agudas Israel of Illinois led the way to getting state add-on funding for busing private school students. Thanks to the current dismal financial situation in Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner has suspended $26 million dollars in social services and public health grants effective immediately, leaving all of our Chicagoland area day school students without busing.
We were told that the decision to cut this funding was made by the Illinois Office of Management and Budget — an office where our legislative representatives have no direct impact. Basically, we shouldn’t blame our Senator or Representative, as they are the people who have made this transportation grant happen for the Jewish schools these past years – subtly reiterating that as private school parents, we are not entitled to state funded school transportation.
Of course, this lovely bit of news hit all of us right before Passover on April 1st. You were either elbow deep in matza or aboard a plane, train, or automobile heading towards a Pesach vacation destination when the word got out. The first reaction from the community was that the bus cancellation announcement was an April fool’s day joke. However, since Agudas Israel making an April fool’s day joke would be akin to Agudas Israel hosting a Valentine’s Day Dance, the horrible reality soon sunk in. Basically, the Chicago Jewish day school parent body is screwed.
I spoke to a representative of Agudas Israel, who told me that each school is trying to secure funding to continue busing for the remainder of the year for their own individual institutions. Everything is still up in the air, and finding a resolution, if there is one to be had, is further complicated by the timing of the crisis during Passover.
Part of me feels that we only got this funding on the basis of the student body numbers of all the Chicago area Jewish day schools. Shouldn’t we come up with a communal solution that benefits all of the schools? I am thinking along the lines of a GoFundMe campaign. Of course, if any Angel Donors would step up to the plate, they could save the day as well. I think many schools are hoping that a few generous donors will get them through the two last months of school busing.
In the meantime, we have parents scrambling to find a solution for how to clone themselves when school resumes next week. Version A can be at work, while Versions B and C can be at carpool. Version B can be at one school while simultaneously Version C is at another school across town that ends or starts at the same time. It’s become the norm for parents to have to split themselves in two to accommodate children’s scheduling, so why not whittle ourselves into even more pieces?
It remains to be seen if transportation funding will be restored for the upcoming school year in the fall, so for now, I guess part of me will be seeing part of you at carpool next week.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
