Almost everyone has experienced the wonder of a yellow school bus. From the curdled brown seats to the layers of dust and lollipop wrappers on the floor, the rumbling vehicles provide a quick, easy, and relatively safe way to get to school. This year, the Seattle School District cut yellow buses for high school students to encourage students to attend their neighborhood schools and use public transportation. Drama exploded when the Transportation Department bestowed these precious yellow buses on former APP students at Garfield, provoking cries of injustice.

Though the goal for the new Metro-busing plan was to increase the population at smaller schools, the new selectivity of the yellow buses has caused confusion. Many of the APP students only chose Garfield because they were guaranteed a spot. They tend to live farther away from Garfield than most students.

“APP had no say in the decision, before, during, or after,” said Stephanie Bower, the head of the APP parent committee.

This is not an issue of discrimination, Bower said, but an issue of money. The district and state consider APP a “Special Needs” program. Therefore, the State funds and reimburses APP transportation much more than ordinary programs.

Instead of adding buses, the plan is to give the APP kids the option of taking the same bus they took to Washington Middle School. The District will not lose any money by providing the APP program students with an invitation to ride their WMS school buses. Instead, by helping a “Special Needs” program, they will gain funds, which will likely go towards busing for other students and schools in Seattle.

Rachel Alexander, although a former Washington APP student, is dubious of this new plan.

“There are a lot of non-APP students who live far away from school,” she said.”They could have students who don’t need a bus opt out voluntarily, give priority to students living furthest from school, free-reduced lunch students, students with inconvenient Metro routes.”

Bower said that because APP students tend to live farther from Garfield, taking the metro can pose an obstacle to attending school. “For some families, the opportunity to piggyback onto the WMS yellow buses is a real lifesaver,” she said.

But Kate Lemly, a Garfield junior who went to private middle school and lives on Queen Anne, said that she also faces the burden of living far from school.

“I drive to school, so the busing isn’t really an issue,” Lemly said. “But if I had to take the metro, it would be a real problem. There are no direct metro buses from my house to Garfield.”

Bower said her committee understands the resentment the bus plan could create.

“We are really hoping…that this will not be a problem,” she said. “From what I hear, APP students love Garfield, and it is important to them to be an integrated part of the school.”

Unfortunately for the schools, the funding is not necessarily permanent. In October, the buses will be surveyed to check how many APP kids actually are riding to school with the Washington students. If the results are not satisfactory, the new plan may change.

As they say, the buses are always yellower on the other side.