Commentary: Dems choose crazy train over students

By Melissa Melendez, California State Assemblywoman, 67th District

It’s no secret California’s high-speed rail project is in trouble.

The project has been plagued by numerous revisions, litigation and major cost overruns. High-speed rail has gone so far off track that the United States Department of Transportation recently announced it would step in to complete a federal audit.

At this point, the least the state could do is put the project out of its misery and use the money for a worthwhile cause. But this is the California Legislature, where bad ideas are made into law and good ideas die.

Recently, I introduced legislation that -- upon voter approval -- would have allocated the remaining bond funds from high-speed rail to California’s school bus program. And in the blink of an eye, legislative Democrats killed the bill, with some refusing to vote on the measure at all. That’s no way to govern.

In a state that claims to value equity and fairness, it’s unfathomable that as many as 230,000 K-12 students miss at least 18 days of school per year due to a lack of reliable transportation. Unlike many states, California doesn’t guarantee school bus transportation to students who live beyond walking distance from school.

Closer to home, parents and students were hit with the news that Menifee Union School District, citing budget costs, eliminated school transportation for general education students. Roughly 1,300 elementary and middle school students in Menifee, and parts of Murrieta and Lake Elsinore, will no longer be able to rely on school buses to get to and from campus.

Government can and must do better.

The amount of money being spent on high-speed rail -- $77 billion, according to conservative estimates -- would be enough to provide free school bus transportation to every child who attends a California public school for the next 45 years.

Amazingly, legislative Democrats keep trying to save this out-of-date legacy project, even though it’s a pretty safe bet, if given the choice, most Californians would choose students over a train. As a matter of fact, recent polling shows that six in 10 Californians think state funding for public schools is inadequate.

Let me re-emphasize: For the next 45 years, the state could guarantee a safe and reliable means of transportation to school, instead of a guarantee to fund a train that doesn’t exist, and likely never will.

No child should fall behind because they are unable to get to school. We have the funds available to secure reliable transportation for our students, but our government clearly has the wrong priorities.

Contact the members of the Assembly Committee on Transportation and let them know the billions and billions of dollars that will be spent on this "train to nowhere" should be reallocated to making sure our children have a safe form of transportation to and from school.

California students deserve better.

Melissa Melendez is a member of the State Assembly representing California’s 67th district. Follow her on Twitter at @asmMelendez.