More Howard County public school students will be able to ride a school bus to campus under a change recently adopted by the school board. The change, however, won’t take effect until the 2025-26 school year.

Roughly two years after adopting a revised transportation policy that required more students to walk to school rather than take a yellow school bus, the Howard County Board of Education changed course last month.

Starting in fall 2025, students will qualify to ride a school bus to and from school each day when the distance from home to their respective school is farther than 0.75 miles for pre-K through fifth grade, one mile for middle school and 1.5 miles for high school.

The shift comes about two years after the school board increased walking distances to align with new school start times that took effect this past school year.

Since those changes took effect in July of 2022, however, parents, students and community members have expressed concerns and frustration with the changes. A policy review committee took another look at the student transportation policy this year, resulting in the recent approved changes by the school board.

Dr. Corinne Happel, a board-certified pediatrician who sat on the policy review committee, said at a spring public hearing that she “believe[s] these recommendations will move us forward, even if they are not perfect.”

Happell also founded Neighbors for Buses, a grassroots group that supports school transportation.

The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that children are usually ready to walk to school without an adult at age 10, or in the fifth grade, Happell said. The academy also recommends that all residential neighborhoods have sidewalks.

But in Howard County, she said, many older neighborhoods do not have sidewalks.

Happel added that younger elementary children who do not have access to private rides or to caregivers who can walk with them to and from school “are particularly vulnerable.” She noted that in Prince George’s County this past November, a 5-year-old and a 10-year-old were killed by a vehicle as they walked to school.

The school board’s recent action comes in the aftermath of the school system’s first contract year with Zum, a partnership that was marked by a chaotic start. A shortage of bus drivers and a fumbled handoff of finalized routes contributed to around 2,400 students being left without a ride to school initially, and many more arriving home hours after the last bell.

Fewer students walking to school means the school system will need more buses. The policy changes are anticipated to cost $1.4 million to cover the costs of additional buses.

A recent shortage of bus drivers in the region has posed challenges for area school districts.

Baltimore County recently revised its transportation policy, resulting in more high school students having to walk to school this past school year. The policy expanded the walking zone from 1.5 miles to 1.7 miles for high schoolers and from 1 mile to 1.5 miles for middle schoolers. Middle schoolers will see the changes in the coming school year.

In Howard County, the school board voted 7-0, with one member not present, in favor of the committee’s changes and updates to Policy 5200 Student Transportation.

After the June vote, Board Chair Jen Mallo thanked the policy review committee, which was chaired by school system officials, for their patience as board members got into the complexities of the policy changes.

“We know this reflects what our community wants and what this board wants, and we appreciate that,” Mallo said.

Here are three takeaways from the school board’s newly adopted changes.

Measuring walking distance

In the current policy, whether a student must walk to school or not is based on the distance from their residence’s property line to their respective school property line.

The policy taking effect on July 1, 2025, makes a minor change to the standard, adding the property lines of apartment complexes.

A larger change actually occurred between 2021 and 2022. In the policy that took effect in July 2021, walking distances, referred to as “non-transported distance,” were defined as from the residence property line and/or entrance to the apartment building to the entrance of each student’s respective school. In short, the updated policy goes from property line to property line.

Support for reduced walking distances

Student leaders have backed changes to allow more students to take the bus to school.

“I want students to be walking less,” Lamia Ayaz, then the school board’s student member, said at the time of the June vote. “Ideally, we want to be pushing for later start times, but to me, what’s more important is we reduce these walk zones.”

James Obasiolu, a rising senior at Atholton High School and the current student board member, testified last spring in support of the policy changes.

“From the policy 5200 revisions committee’s efforts, it’s clear that we’re on track to achieving the safest, most efficient and equitable transportation system for our students,” Obasiolu said.

However, Obasiolu suggested that more could be done. He proposed that the board create an outreach campaign to better inform families about transportation eligibility.

A limit to walking distances

In determining where whether a Howard County student can ride the bus, the school system factors in something called “demarcation.”

According to the school system, demarcation is “the line between transported and non-transported [walking distance] areas.”

The district’s Office of Transportation may extend walking distances based on breaks within home patterns, including major roadways, streams, intersections, parks, walking easements, cul-de-sacs, vacant land, commercial property and unusual contour variations.

In the newly adopted policy, these line distances can only be extended by .1 miles for elementary schools and .15 miles for middle and high schools. In the past there were no distance limitations.