2,000 Highschool Students Left Without a Ride to School in Ohio

When the school year started in Dayton, Ohio this week, about 2,000 high school students walked out their front doors with no yellow bus in sight.

One of them is Ruben Castillo, an 11th grader at Meadowdale Career Technology Center. Instead of hopping on a bus, Ruben will have to pay $25 to $30 a day for Uber just to get to and from class. Over the course of a year, that’s thousands of dollars — money most families simply don’t have. 

Why?

Under Ohio law, public schools must transport students who attend private and charter schools — even before they serve their own public school students. If they don’t, the state can fine them millions of dollars.  

Dayton Public Schools says it would take about 70 new buses to cover the need — each costing $150,000–$190,000 — and up to 18 months to purchase and prepare, including driver training. In the meantime, limited resources mean some public school students are left without transportation.

A Past Workaround Now Off The Table

In the past, Dayton and other cities issued bus passes for public transportation as a temporary solution. But safety concerns grew after reports of harassment and other incidents. In April, 18-year-old Alfred Hale III was killed at Dayton’s downtown bus hub while traveling to school.

Shortly after, state lawmakers passed a budget amendment making it illegal for Dayton Public Schools to provide public bus passes to students. Families who still use public transportation must now pay about $540 a year per high school student.

Part of a Broader Trend

Similar transportation requirements for non-public school students exist in states like Pennsylvania and Minnesota. In others — including Texas, Florida, Iowa, and Tennessee — lawmakers have gone further, expanding private school voucher programs that direct public funding toward private education.

Ohio faces both of these pressures. The state requires districts to transport

non-public school students while also increasing funding for private school vouchers. At the same time, this summer’s state budget brought the smallest increase in K–12 public education funding in more than a decade. As a result, Dayton Public Schools must transport 4,000–5,000 charter and private school students every day, stretching resources for its own public school students.

Impact on Families

For many families, the new rules create major logistical challenges. William Johnson, a single father and Dayton educator, now relies on his 80-year-old father to get his children to school. “I’m a single dad raising two kids on my own. We all have to be at school at the same time. That’s a big dilemma,” he said.