STATEN ISLAND, N.Y -- Staten Island's seventh- and eighth-grade students could be climbing back onto yellow school buses, thanks to a bill awaiting Gov. Andrew Cuomo's signature. "This is not a luxury. This is not frivolous," state Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) said. "This is a part of a core set of services that the city needs to provide." The...
The borough's seventh- and eighth-graders have had to shift for themselves."This is not a luxury. This is not frivolous," state Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) said. "This is a part of a core set of services that the city needs to provide."
The bipartisan bill spearheaded by Lanza and Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid-Island) passed both houses unanimously this afternoon. It doesn't force the city to resume the yellow bus service, instead removing the legal hurdle that the Department of Education contends has prevented the city from busing the borough's students.
The bill exempts New York City from the "like circumstances" clause of New York State Education Law when it comes to busing seventh- and eighth-grade students.
The clause, the city argued, meant that if Staten Island and other far-flung city communities like Breezy Point received yellow bus service for all middle schoolers, the rest of the city would be entitled to it, too. The vast majority of the city's seventh- and eighth-grade students take public transit or walk to school -- but most live in communities served by subways and where schools are closer to their homes.
The department had cited the like circumstances clause as its reason for revoking a decades-long variance that allowed bus service in the borough.
"In light of this legislation, we are reviewing our policies on seventh- and eighth-grade busing. We appreciate Senator Lanza and Assemblyman Cusick's constructive work on this issue," Department of Education spokesman Matt Mittenthal said in a statement.
And while the bill doesn't mandate the return of the bus service, Lanza and Cusick are confident that will be the end result.
"I am very optimistic on our chances of this happening," Cusick said. "Optimistic and confident."
Lanza said the city did not realize the savings for which it had hoped by nixing the variance allowing bus service here -- and more importantly, he said, saw that the safety of students trumped money.
"This, in effect, clears the way, removes the barrier that the city has believed prevents them from restoring the service," he said.
Both Lanza and Cusick said they worked closely with the city in developing their bill.
"We worked with the mayor's office very, very closely. I never gave up on them, knowing that at the end of the day, they were only trying to do the right thing," Lanza said.
Cusick said they were in "constant contact" with the mayor's office.
"In discussions with the city, I'm optimistic we are going to have a result that I think we're all going to be happy with," Cusick said.
Both said they anticipated Cuomo would sign the bill.
As for where the funding for bus service would come from, that's not specified in the bill. But the bill isn't an unfunded mandate, both legislators said. It does not mandate the return of service.
"We're not telling them to do something and not providing them the money," Cusick said, which likely made the bill more palatable.
He pointed out that this year New York City will receive nearly $8 billion in education funding from the state government -- that's $290 million more than last year.
"I think that was helpful in talking with the city about the possibility," Cusick said.
Lanza said it was an especially gratifying legislative victory after fighting for bus service so long.
"I am just so gratified and so professionally thrilled that we've been able to get this done," he said.
It was also gratifying, he said, because it came from hard work, coming together, and compromise. Cusick agreed, saying many had worked hard on behalf of the borough's schoolchildren.
"The whole delegation and the community and the parents and the education community never let this die," Cusick said. "The key to this was that we were all tenacious and didn't take no for an answer."
The bill is different than one previously introduced and titled Aniya's Law, for Aniya Williams, the seventh-grader killed when she was hit by a truck on her way to catch a city bus last June.
"Her spirit and her family's thoughts were in our thoughts when we moved forward on this," Cusick said.
Sam Pirozzolo, president of the Community Education Council, which has pushed hard for restoration of bus service, said he was still waiting for the details of how it would be funded and if the city would agree to restore service. Pirozzolo is also challenging Cusick for his Assembly seat.
"I'm very happy this happened because it's a step in the direction we've been working on," he said. "The CEC has been working on busing since October of 2009."
Various lawmakers also weighed in on the bill.
"Parents need to feel their children are safe not just at school, but to and from it. I am proud to be a co-sponsor on Sen. Lanza's bill that passed the Senate today," Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn) said.
"This is a tremendous victory for many Staten Island schoolchildren and their worried families who have been faced with the seemingly arbitrary denial of school bus service for the past two years," Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn) said. "For too long, the City of New York has shamefully forced children to navigate streets that suffer from blind turns and the absence of sidewalks, or adequate traffic signals, before they make it to the nearest MTA bus stop.
"I applaud Senator Lanza and Assemblyman Cusick, who ardently drove this legislation, and the rest of my colleagues who facilitated its passage."