But there are initiatives to get more students to walk or bike to school.
Some local school districts say it’s a good idea and are working to make it safer.
The Belton school district has a partnership with the city of Belton to get a grant from the Safe Routes to School program, said Judy Owens, public information coordinator for Belton schools.
All 50 states are required by law to have a Safe Routes to School coordinator, said Tonna Marcyes, the coordinator for Texas.
Ms. Marcyes said for sidewalks and signs - infrastructure purposes - the city, county or state can apply for grants, as long as it benefits kindergarten through eighth-grade students.
But, some safety measures can be taken without grant money.
Ms. Marcyes described one situation in which a city applied for a grant for a problem they could easily fix themselves - simply to trim overgrown trees obscuring traffic signs.
“Many people think the program is just all about putting down sidewalks,” Ms. Marcyes said, noting that the program provides training for crossing guards and incentives for participating students and schools.
A program that doesn’t cost money to implement is the walking school bus.
Two adults walk with children, stopping at houses along the way to pick up children. Some teachers even meet with the group at a certain point and walk the rest of the way to school.
Ms. Marcyes said the walking school bus and the Safe Routes to School Program teach social skills and enable kids to feel the trust of their parents who let them walk to school.
In Belton, a meeting was held early this year to get the ball rolling on the grant application for infrastructure needs.
Parent surveys were conducted in both English and Spanish.
Survey response was good because city and school officials learned what parents thought would make walking safe, and what it would take for parents to allow their kids to walk to school, said Jerri Gauntt, support services coordinator for the city of Belton.
The main concern of parents was safety of the children, Ms. Gauntt said. Parents worried about people driving too fast since some paths to school were near high-speed roads, and that other students had to walk through a park.
“One of the real advantages is getting real information from parents and students honestly,” Ms. Gauntt said, because the city’s ideas of the problems did not necessarily reflect reality.
Parents wondered about knowing that their children actually got to school. No concerns were voiced about heavy backpacks or bad weather.
Belton ISD is almost 200 square miles, with some of its campuses within Temple city limits, Ms. Owens said.
The schools involved in the plan are Leon Heights, Tyler, Miller Heights, Southwest and Sparta elementary schools and Belton Middle School, because they are within Belton city limits.
The plan will be completed and submitted to TxDOT within the next few weeks, said Janet Sheguit of Grant Development Services, which is helping with the grant application process.
Salado and Temple school districts have looked into Safe Routes to School in the past, but never made much progress with the program.
Based on observation, fewer than 1 percent of students in the Temple school district ride bicycles to school, said Regina Baird, public relations director for the district.
About 26 percent of the students ride the bus, while the rest ride in family cars or with peers.
“Most kids at the middle school level walk,” Ms. Baird said.
Reasons that students do not walk to school may include environmental hazards and a lack of sidewalks, Ms. Baird said.
“The school bus is the safest mode of transportation in the country,” she said.
Tommy Barkley, transportation director for Salado ISD, said the district looked into the program last year.
Barkley said there was one road that the city thought could work for the program, but nothing came of it.
“I bet we don’t have 10 kids who walk to school,” Barkley said.
The only kids who bike are the ones who live right by the campus, he said.
“Most parents won’t let their kids walk,” Barkley said, citing the interstate running through the area as their reason for concern.
As far as working with the Safe Routes to Schools, Ms. Baird said Temple ISD began the process four years ago through the city of Temple.
“We’d be interested in looking into that again,” Ms. Baird said. “That door is certainly still open.”
vbongat@temple-telegram.com
