Thousands of brick-and-mortar public school parents across the Mat-Su will soon be joining their counterparts in private, correspondence and some in charter schools who regularly drive their kids to school, five days a week.

Thanks to a looming bus driver strike, busing services will come to an abrupt halt on Monday, March 2.

This will affect most standard public school students as well as some charter students who qualify for bus pickup. However, according to the school district’s website, the strike will not impact bus transportation for students at Su-Valley Jr/Sr High, Talkeetna Elementary, Trapper Creek Elementary, Willow Elementary, or Glacier View Schools, as non-Durham drivers serve these schools.

The controversy centers on bus drivers and support staff employed by Durham School Services – a national private contractor that handles most student transportation for the Mat-Su. Durham’s Mat-Su employees are represented by Teamsters Local 959, who are engaged in a contract dispute that began last summer but has stalled amid arguments over higher wages, training, bus maintenance and other issues.

Many school districts across the nation do not provide universal bus services for kids to get to school. In fact, school transportation is not federally mandated for most students but governed by state and local laws.

In January of this year, bus drivers rejected Durham’s final offer and authorized a strike that is set to begin March 2 unless last-minute negotiations resolve the conflict.

Durham claims the strike is unnecessarily disruptive, noting that both sides had already agreed to mediated sessions on March 17 and 18. They argue that walking out before those dates is unwarranted.

While the school district is not directly involved in the dispute, it has notified the families of roughly 18,000 affected children that they will need to personally take their kids to school.

“While we remain hopeful that no job action occurs and bargaining continues as scheduled, families in the core area are encouraged to make alternative transportation arrangements at this time,” the district’s website states. “Schools will remain open, and classes will continue as scheduled.”

While the pending strike in the Mat-Su may force families to rearrange schedules or set up car-pooling alternatives, the absence of free publicly-funded school busing is not without precedent in the U.S.

Many school districts across the nation do not provide universal bus services for kids to get to school. In fact, school transportation is not federally mandated for most students but governed by state and local laws. Many districts only offer busing for students living beyond a certain distance or for students with disabilities.

Additionally, Alaska law does not require school districts to provide free busing for public school students in general. However, the state does offer reimbursement for districts that do.

If the current Mat-Su conflict is resolved and transportation is able to operate, families will be notified through text, email, social media, and the district website.

The strike is set to start just before spring break, when students are out of school from March 6-15, which means parents may only need to drive their kids to school for four days if negotiations are resolved before spring break concludes.

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