Parents and school leaders urge preserving $6M DC School Connect; DFHV says program funded at current scale, faces waitlist

Parents, principals and nonprofit leaders told the Committee on Public Works and Operations on June 13 that DC School Connect — a Department of For Hire Vehicles (DFHV) pilot that provides school‑specific shared rides for students — should be preserved and expanded. DFHV Director Jonathan Rogers said the mayor’s FY26 budget funds the program at its current scale but does not include expansion.

"We are incredibly grateful to the mayor for maintaining the $6,000,000 for this program in the FY26 budget and we urge the members of this committee and the council to protect this funding," said Carrie Savage, chief of policy at PAVE, noting strong endorsements from parents and school leaders. Dozens of public witnesses — including principals, charter school leaders and parent advocates from Wards 7 and 8 — described assaults, threats and chronic safety concerns on public transit and said School Connect reduces student exposure to those harms.

Why this matters: Witnesses linked safe, reliable transportation to improved attendance, reduced truancy and better classroom readiness — outcomes that stakeholders and some city officials tied to long‑term safety and educational performance in neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River.

Public testimony and examples

Multiple witnesses provided first‑person accounts. Tara Brown, a Ward 8 parent leader, testified her daughter was assaulted on a WMATA bus and later stalked, saying, "None of these things would have happened to her if she had access to DC Connect." Other parents and principals described students who had been pepper‑sprayed or assaulted near bus and metro stations during arrival or dismissal.

School leaders described operational benefits. Naya White, principal of Center City Public Charter School’s Congress Heights campus, said DC School Connect "has provided students Wards 7 and 8 a massive safety and security blanket" and warned that removing funding would force students to accept less safe commutes. Lila Peterson, executive director of SchoolTalk, said the program is particularly important for students with disabilities and those navigating trauma.

Scale, demand and cost

DFHV said the program has served 381 distinct students over the current school year and that an average operational day serves roughly 300 students; Director Rogers said the FY26 proposal preserves the program at that scale. DFHV testified that cumulative program spending for fiscal year 2024 (FY24) was about $4.7 million and that FY25 year‑to‑date spending was about $4.8 million; Rogers estimated the per‑student budget at roughly $16,000–$17,000 if the program serves about 300 students.

Demand exceeds capacity: DFHV said it received more than 800 applications for the next school year while capacity is approximately 300 seats, producing a lengthy waitlist and prompting debate about how to prioritize access. Witnesses and DFHV discussed shifting from a first‑come, first‑served registration to a needs‑based priority system informed by school leadership and working‑group recommendations.

Implementation, routing and data questions

Multiple school leaders reported difficulty getting specific students prioritized for routes even when schools identified high‑need students. DFHV said it will provide applicant lists to schools and use routing software (Bus Planner) to model scenarios so school leaders and the agency can identify priority students. Rogers described steps DFHV has taken to reduce costs, including in‑house route administration and repurposing vehicles from a discontinued program.

Stakeholders raised gaps in outcome data. Committee members pressed DFHV and the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME) working group for robust student‑level attendance metrics linking School Connect participation to reduced absenteeism. Rogers said DFHV primarily measures safe trips delivered and that more detailed academic outcome analysis would require coordination with education agencies.

Alternatives and operational costs

Witnesses and principals described internal school expenses when seats are unavailable: one school leader said charter school transportation costs exceeded $40,000 in a year; another said a sedan‑service line for a small group of students cost roughly $25,000 annually for four students. Witnesses also warned against relying on ride‑hail services (Uber/Lyft) for children, citing surge pricing, background‑check and vetting concerns and safety worries for younger pupils.

DFHV response and next steps

Rogers told the committee the mayor’s FY26 proposal funded DFHV’s enhancement request to maintain School Connect at its current scale; DFHV has no near‑term plan to expand beyond the preserved level. He said the agency will work to implement the working group’s guidance, notify schools of applicant lists, run routing scenarios with Bus Planner, and pursue incremental efficiency improvements. DFHV also committed to sharing more precise utilization and spending data with the committee upon request.

Ending note

Committee members said they would pursue follow‑up on prioritization, data collection and whether funding should be structured differently to allow greater enrollment or LEA‑level management. No formal vote occurred at the hearing; the committee’s record remains open for written testimony until the published deadline.