Fiction: The Conservative CFISD Board Unilaterally Decided to Change Bus Routes
Fiction: “The conservative CFISD Board unilaterally decided to change bus routes.”
Truth:
The bus route changes were part of broader budget reduction recommendations, assembled by a Budget Reduction Task Force in March 2024.
This task force, composed primarily of CFISD personnel and only a few community members, reviewed options—including drastic route cuts totaling potential $11 million savings.
The new board reviewed these recommendations in April–May 2024. Although pressured by district leadership, the board selected the least drastic option, reverting to pre-COVID 2019 levels of service.
The decision to reinstate more routes was unanimously approved, even by the liberal board member Julie Hinaman.
Communication failures, not board action, resulted in the timing issues: the transportation plan wasn’t shared publicly until early August 2024, just before school began, sparking backlash.
In short: the board did not act in isolation or arbitrarily—they deliberated, agreed on a compromise, and were failed by poor execution in communications—not malice or politics.
Bottom Line: Route reductions were based on collective recommendations and unanimous board approval—not unilateral or solely conservative action.