For other posts on the RydeFreeRT program, see category RydeFree RT.

A SacBee article (Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg wants to keep program that lets kids ride for free) about the Tuesday Sacramento City Council meeting states that Steinberg supports the SacRT RydeFreeRT program. He has proposed that the city will contribute $250K rather than $1M, SacRT will contribute an additional $250K, and the school districts will contribute $500K. It is not known how the $500K would be distributed among the school districts, perhaps by percentage of students in the SacRT service area.

“We cannot lose this program,” Steinberg said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “This cannot and will not go away for our kids.”

The problem is that it is unlikely that school boards would react in time for this change to take place for the city’s FY-2025 budget, and the RydeFreeRT program. So the possibility still exists that if the city does not continue its contribution for this school year, the program may fail. According to the SacBee article, council member Katie Valenzuela wants the city to continue its contribution if the reallocation cannot be made in time. This seems like a reasonable compromise, to continue the city’s $1M contribution for this year, providing time for a different partners contribution model to be in place for next fiscal year, for the city and the school districts.

The school districts do benefit greatly from the program, by reducing absenteeism. Districts receive funding from the state based on their attendance, and the more students who can successfully get to school, the more money for the district. Students who miss less school also perform better academically.

• RydeFree RT