Two-tier busing to be reinstated at Talawanda for 2025-26 school year

The Talawanda Board of Education has voted to reinstate two-tier busing for students starting in Fall 2025.

In 2023, the board voted to reduce busing to the state minimum after a 2022 levy failed to pass, tightening the district's budget. The move eliminated busing for all students at Talawanda High School, as well as K-8 students who lived within two miles of their school buildings.

Last fall, Ohio mandated property value adjustments which increased property taxes for Butler County residents, opening up more funding for the Talawanda School District. The board voted in December 2023 to reintroduce two-tier busing — picking up elementary, middle and high school students in two consecutive waves each morning — for the 2024 school year. If implemented, that plan would have pushed elementary students to earlier start times.

After some parents expressed concerns about the early start times, Board President Rebecca Howard said they reconsidered the decision this spring and sent out a survey to parents and staff, who were given three choices: continue one-tier busing at the state minimum to maintain later start times, switch to the old two-tier schedule which had high school and middle school students starting before elementary students, or switch to a new two-tier schedule with elementary students starting class at 7:15 a.m. The survey garnered more than 900 responses, and the board voted 3-2 in May to continue the one-tier system, which had gotten the most support in survey responses.

During a board meeting Oct. 17, Howard said she had heard from parents since then who regretted their decision to support one-tier busing in the survey because of the additional hardships it created for families that couldn't get busing. One parent who lives 1.9 miles from Talawanda Middle School previously told the Oxford Free Press she felt the system was unfair and made it harder for her to get her son too and from school.

"We gave one-tier bussing a meaningful run and extended that for a second year, hoping the challenges would abate," Howard said. "They have not."

The board voted 4-1 to reinstate two-tier busing for the 2025-26 school year. Students who live within one mile of their schools will still have to provide their own transportation. Board member Pat Meade voted against the motion, citing concerns about how an earlier start time may impact academic performance for students. The board did not vote on specific start or end times for next school year during the Oct. 17 meeting.

Treasurer Shaunna Tafelski said the additional cost of two-tier busing, which comes out to roughly $445,000 per year, was already accounted for in the district's five-year forecast this May.

Meade said he was concerned the additional cost would also push the district closer to putting another levy on the ballot in the future and added that the district is still short several staff positions following the cuts made after the 2022 levy failed.

Board member Dawn King, who was elected in 2023, said the vote puts the district back in line with what board members had previously said agreed should be its priorities as new funding becomes available.

"It was decided that [busing] would be one of the first things brought back if the finances were there, and the finances are here, and a lot of things were brought back," King said. "... And we did not bring this back — we did, but then it got voted down."

The Oct. 17 meeting was the first for Matt Wyatt, who was appointed on Sept. 30 to serve out the remainder of David Bothast's term following Bothast's resignation Sept. 9.

The board will hold a work session at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 14 to discuss a potential turf field replacement and the possibility of forming a board committee to review and revise district communications policies. The board's next regular meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Nov. 21.