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Boundary changes eased overcrowding but some students face long bus rides, district staff say
Summary
District presentations showed boundary adjustments reduced the number of schools over capacity from six to three, but transportation staff reported about 197 students (roughly 8% of bus riders) currently experiencing rides longer than 45 minutes; trustees pressed staff for follow-up on bus-stop safety, SPED curb-to-curb rides and staffing needs to add buses or alter start times.
Merced City School District officials told trustees on Oct. 14 that boundary adjustments implemented this year had reduced overcrowding at elementary campuses, but routing changes left a small share of students on substantially longer bus rides.
Director of Facilities Brian Bane said the February boundary decisions decreased enrollment pressure at previously overfull campuses. “Last year we had six schools over 100% capacity; this year we’re at three,” he said, noting major reductions at Peterson (-97), Franklin (-77) and Rivera (-65) relative to the prior year’s counts.
Dr. Doug Williams, director of maintenance and operations, presented a mid-year transportation analysis that compared 2024–25 routing with the current school year. The district estimates approximately 11,200 students are enrolled systemwide and about 2,472 students ride buses (about 22% of students). Of those bus riders roughly 197 students — under 2% of total enrollment — have rides that exceed 45 minutes, Williams said. That subset includes foster and McKinney‑Vento students and some special-education (curb-to-curb) routes that skew averages.
Trustees raised examples they found troubling: preschool students whose earliest bus pickup times can be as early as 6:15–6:20 a.m.; special-education riders experiencing one-hour commutes; and cases where students walk to an overcrowded campus to board a bus to a different school. Several trustees asked staff for a route-by-route breakdown showing stops, rides-per-stop and exact counts of longer trips so the board can weigh options.
Williams said some PM routes lengthened even as AM routes shortened and that comparisons are complicated by differences between mid-year snapshots and previous year end-of-year data. He told trustees the most direct way to reduce long rides is to add drivers and buses, which carries material costs. The district also plans to examine school start times and after-school program routing and to refine routing data to better identify precisely which students are affected.
Board members asked for a follow-up report with actionable options and cost estimates for adding buses or changing start times, and for the district to flag students with the longest rides so sites and teachers can be made aware.
Superintendent Stocking and trustees emphasized safety in routing decisions, saying staff had already removed some proposed pedestrian routes deemed unsafe. Directors agreed to return with a deeper routes analysis and staffing/cost options.
