YouthPass
From PortlandAfoot
YouthPass is a state program, created in 2009, that offers a free all-zone TriMet pass to every high school and alternative student at Portland Public Schools, Portland's largest school district. The same program was available to every school district in the state, and in place in Salem and Eugene.
Until December 2011, the program was funded by the state's Business Energy Tax Credit and by $800,000 from the school district. A month before its expiration, the office of Mayor Sam Adams announced a stopgap deal between the city, TriMet and Portland Public Schools to continue the program through May 2012.
As of December, the program is scheduled to expire in June, 2012. The Multnomah Youth Commission, whose advocacy led to the program's creation in Portland, has been urging families to speak up on its behalf.
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[edit] How to get involved
As of September 2011, YouthPass advocates at the Youth Commission use their Facebook page as their main way to communicate with supporters. They also encourage supporters to find and contact their legislators to express support for YouthPass and to attend MYC meetings (the second and fourth Sundays of each month, as noted here.
[edit] Cheap alternative to yellow-bus service
[edit] Cost: $1.7 million less than limited yellow-bus service
Portland Public Schools says YouthPass is a cheap, universal alternative to yellow school buses.
The state of Oregon requires school districts to provide transportation to low-income high school students who attend their neighborhood schools and live at least 1.5 miles away, according to PPS Director of Transportation Andy Leibenguth. In April 2011, Leibenguth said the number of students meeting these criteria was "2,500 to 3,000."
If PPS, like most Oregon school districts, maintained its own yellow bus fleet, the annual cost would be $6 million, said Todd Diskin, a staffer for Portland Mayor Sam Adams. The state would then be obligated to pick up 70 percent of that cost, or $4.2 million a year, with Portland Public Schools covering the other $1.8 million.
As of 2011, according to TriMet lobbyist Aaron Deas, BETC credits related to the YouthPass program cost the state $3.5 million annually, $2.55 million of which go directly toward the program and $950,000 of which go to a private "pass-through partner," which changes each year. Portland Public Schools puts another $800,000 into the program. (See comparative costs, below.)
For Portland Public Schools, Leibenguth said, "it would cost more to provide the yellow-bus transportation for fewer kids."
[edit] Comparative costs
[edit] Using the BETC (state funding, 2009-2011)
Even after the $950,000 BETC tax credit to a private company, therefore, providing free all-day TriMet access to 13,000 high schoolers costs state and PPS taxpayers $1.7 million less each year than providing yellow buses twice a day to fewer than 3,000 high schoolers.
In Portland, the program was funded by $2.55 million a year from TriMet, all of which came indirectly from the state in the form of a Business Energy Tax Credit, and $800,000 from the school district.
- From the state's perspective, the BETC-funded universal YouthPass costs $3.5 million, 20 percent less than limited yellow-bus service: a $700,000 savings.
- From the school district's perspective, the BETC-funded universal YouthPass costs $800,000, 56 percent less than limited yellow-bus service: a $1 million savings.
- From a Portland taxpayer's perspective, the combined cost of the BETC-funded YouthPass program is $4.3 million, 28 percent less than limited yellow-bus service: a $1.7 million savings.
[edit] With direct funding (as some have suggested)
If the $950,000 tax credit to the pass-through partner were eliminated and the program were simply paid for directly, it would be cheaper than the yellow-bus alternative for both state and district:
- From the state's perspective, a direct YouthPass program would cost $2.55 million, 39 percent less than limited yellow-bus service: a $1.65 million savings.
- From the school district's perspective, a direct YouthPass program would cost $800,000, 56 percent less than offering limited yellow-bus service: a $1 million savings.
- From a Portland taxpayer's perspective, the combined cost of a direct YouthPass program would be $3.35 million, 44 percent less than a limited yellow-bus service: an $850,000 savings.
[edit] Perspectives from key legislators
- State Rep. Tobias Read: direct funding makes more sense than tax credits. "Tax credits are a clumsy way to fund transit, and we should work to find direct methods." wrote Read (D-Beaverton) in a May 2011 email.
- State Rep. Vicki Berger: Only students who need them should get passes. Although she supports the use of public transit for school transportation, Berger (R-Salem) said districts have been using the state's money to give out too many passes. "Using transit passes instead of school buses ... makes all the sense in the world. ... But the mechanism for funding it has been sideways. ... We've got to figure out a way to fund it. ... If we're going to provide transit, then why are we letting people have transit passes who could only use them occasionally, and not necessarily to school?" she asked. (PPS Transportation Director Andy Leibenguth said May 25 that he could support such a plan. "If that's the program she's going to support, we can make it happen," he said.)
[edit] Supported by Portland Business Alliance
The Portland Business Alliance, Portland's chamber of commerce, supports YouthPass as well as other provisions of the BETC.
Portland Business Alliance lobbyist Bernie Bottomly said in May 2011 that he thinks it would be politically impossible for the state to directly fund YouthPass, because it would be perceived as a program for large cities that is unavailable to students elsewhere. However, the program was technically available to every school district in the state; it was unavailable in less densely populated districts because in those districts, transit service is less-ridden and less frequent.
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