[Dukie]

Praise Jesus, friends! Our Godly governor Sanford here in my home state of South Carolina said a big No to the uppity negroes trying to get even more money out of the government on Wednesday.

Sanford vetoes bill replacing school buses
By Mindy B. Hagen (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Thursday, June 7, 2007


Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed a school bus bill late Wednesday that would mandate the replacement of South Carolina's oldest and most dangerous school buses.

State Rep. Bob Walker, chairman of the House Education and Public Works Committee, said he was shocked by Sanford's decision and called it a "slap in the face" to the children and families across the state who rely on the state's bus fleet every school day. The Legislature passed the bill nearly two weeks ago, with the bill receiving unanimous support in the House.

The Landrum Republican said Sanford doesn't care about public school children because Sanford's own children attend private school and don't ride South Carolina school buses, which a recent Post and Courier investigation found to be the oldest, most polluting and least safe buses in the nation.

The newspaper's report in March revealed that the aging bus fleet accounts for some 12,000 bus breakdowns every school year. The newspaper's series sparked public outrage and swift action by lawmakers, who moved to adopt a 15-year replacement cycle for the state's 5,700 school buses, many of which are more than 20 years old and lack modern safety features.

The bill would mandate that the state buy about 375 new buses every year at a cost of nearly $30 million.

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the governor is not against safety but would prefer to decentralize the state-run bus fleet — the only one of its kind in the nation — and allow individual school districts to own and operate their bus fleets.

Sawyer said many of the problems highlighted in the series stem from the fact that the system is "unwieldy and poorly managed" by the Education Department.

"We think it's a bad idea to enshrine into law a very poorly managed bus system," Sawyer said.

In a letter explaining his reasons for the veto, Sanford wrote that he feared signing the bill would make "an already bad situation worse."

Sanford said the state's "unusual control" of school buses has led to increased regulations in regard to mandated engine horsepower, seating capacity and bus frame design. According to Sanford, those factors have combined to increase the purchase price of school buses in South Carolina — money that could be spent on classroom instruction instead of transportation.

Sanford said he thinks a more effective approach to school transportation would be to contract with private school bus providers. Sanford also favors leasing a substantial portion of the bus fleet and eventually moving to a system run by local districts, according to the veto letter.

"Unfortunately, (the bill) would once again assert the state's predominant role when it comes to transportation," Sanford wrote.

Education Department spokesman Jim Foster said the governor can't logically make the argument that vetoing the replacement cycle would improve classroom instruction. "You can't spend dollars in the classroom if you can't get the children there to sit in the classroom," Foster said.

Foster said school districts already have the option to privatize their bus services, and Charleston and Beaufort counties have opted to partially do so. But many districts don't want the responsibility of managing buses, as they don't want to cope with maintenance problems and form contracts with bus providers, Foster said.

"Who wants that kind of headache?" Foster said. "The governor just provided an excellent illustration of why districts don't want to operate these buses, especially if the funding to run them is subject to this type of whim from elected officials. It's unfortunate that the governor has chosen to make a philosophical point about his views on decentralizing government at the expense of children's safety."

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"School Bus Breakdown," the Post and Courier's March 11-13 investigative series on the state's aging fleet of school buses.

Governor Mark Sanford's letter explaining the reasons for veto.

Sawyer also pointed out that the Legislature is still free to set aside money every year for new school buses, with or without a bus replacement law. Lawmakers have haphazardly funded school buses for decades, buying hundreds at a pop in good financial times and buying none when money is tight. This feast-or-famine approach has left the state with a motley fleet of buses that most states would consider scrap.

Walker said that if the House receives the veto letter today, it could immediately attempt to override it. Given that the bill passed the House unanimously in March, he expects members would vote again in favor of the replacement plan.

Foster said Education Department officials hope lawmakers support the bill enough to override the veto.

"The issue of a bus replacement cycle seemed to have achieved a critical mass in the General Assembly this year," Foster said. "We are hopeful there are enough votes to make a definitive statement that will hold up this replacement cycle for future years."

In the past months, Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell also has pledged support for a replacement plan. The Charleston Republican called the newspaper's finding's on the condition of the state's bus system a "clarion call."

It shouldn't be the state's job to make sure the kids have a ride to school. If the negroes can't wake up early enough to drive their pimped out Oldsmobile to drop off their kid, then maybe they aren't meant to learn. My parents drove me to private school, and they even had jobs on top of that! I know the negroes don't. Thank God for men like Governor Sanford. I am still holding out for a possible presidential run.