Frustrated with our education system

So our divorced daughter has new hours at her job, that comes with an 8 O'clock start time.  Pretty normal right ?  Well the grade schools in our district  do not open the doors until 8.  Not even for the breakfast program.  What a huge headache for our grand child and other  families in our area.  Our schools should be doing better for our kids and parents.  I can understand having to find childcare after school, but there is no reason to have to find child care for 30 minites a day before school.  Is this common in other states, and if so why would it ever make sense

In our districts, the grade school offices open at 7:30. Often, classes start before 8:00. If a parent has a job that starts at 8:00, dropping the kiddo(s) off and getting to work on time is dicey. And if the job is full time, who's picking the kid up?

This illustrates a simple reality. There's no way to reconcile a full time job and the need to transport kids to and from school. That's why there are buses. Why can't your daughter drop her kid off at the bus pickup point?

When I was in grade school, I walked to and from school, about 1.2 miles. My dad could have driven me, but there was no need. And he couldn't have dropped everything to pick me up at 3:00 anyway.

Also, in our district, the kids can go straight to the cafeteria for breakfast--no need for any kind of special care. And we also have aftercare that extends the school day until 4:30.

The system is basically designed on the assumption that many parents won't be able to drop off and pick up. Once again, we do have those bus thingies, and the routes are mapped so that no student lives more than ten minutes away from a pickup point. Usually, much closer.

Finally...this issue has nothing to do with your local education system per se. They may simply lack the staffing to open earlier than 8:00. They may be concentrating their resources on education rather than on transport and pre- and after-care.

I do know that our districts are very well funded and.yes, local taxation is high to support them. If your daughter shares her concerns with other parents, she may be able to influence the school to change their policy.

Grade school starts at 825, and doors open at 8 for the breakfast program at all the public grade schools. Dropping a 5 or 6 year old girl off at a bus stop in the middle of winter  for 30 min, in todays world might get her arrested.  I know she could drop her off at the school at 740 and let her wait there until the school lets her in, but again it is pretty cold with no shelter or supervision.  It seems this schedule came about so they could use the same bus for secondary schools which start at 745. This would also be tough for parents with multiple grades to juggle. It could take a full hour just to drop off kids

Schools are primarily funded by state and local governments.    I havent lived in NY State in three decades -so I dont know what the rules are now at my old school district.   But I do know the cafeteria had bagels and juice for kids who got in early.    Most buses dropped kids off 30-45 minutes before the bell.

I understand this is not meant to be a political thread so Im not trying to hijak it that way.      But this is an issue about the role of government and taxes.     Some states give better public services than others....but those things cost money...and money comes from taxes.     

You can live somewhere that has high taxes and good services....or somewhere that has low taxes and poor services.    Everyone's personal situation will determine which one of those suits better.

Staggering primary, middle, and high school schedules for maximum efficiency of bus schedules is nothing new. We do it here, and I assume it's common practice.

There's no way they could make it convenient for everybody. How could they accommodate your daughter? By starting classes half an hour earlier? Wouldn't that wreak havoc with other parents' schedules? Wouldn't that also mess with the bus schedules in the remainder of the district?

The problem isn't that the school does or doesn't or should or shouldn't open at a particular time. Whatever that time was, it would fuck with somebody's schedule if they had a full-time job. The problem, therefore, is the near-impossibility of holding such a job and playing Kid Cab five days a week. Your daughter is no doubt working out of necessity. But the resultant conflict is hardly the school's fault.

I've talked to parents who've managed to find part-time jobs that have flexible enough hours that they can sandwich their work between kid drop-off and kid-pickup times. But those are usually low-paid and menial jobs.

Solution? Get the kids on the buses, one way or another.

That's why we have really good before- and after-care here in Portland (and burbs). Voters have continually supported funding it and a myriad of other ancillary services and programs that support schools. Some people yeep, but usually it's folks who don't have grade school kids.

Given the issues Brent has voiced, and given seasonal weather there, I suspect his local school district needs additional funding. Will their voters approve it? Yea verily, that will depend on their local politics.

If you decide to reproduce, then that should affect your decision on where to live while raising your offspring. If you choose the suburbs, you'll face more transportation issues than if you'd stayed in the city. If you choose a state where education funding is poor, you'll face more challenges than you would have if you had chosen a state where education is important to the voters. And it's not a wealth issue; it's a political mindset issue.

There's another wrinkle. Political conservatism likes "old school" policies, practices, and mindsets...and it's my unmistakable impression that moms care a wee bit more about the details and minutae of raising kids, such as getting them to school on time, than dads do...perhaps because the moms are more on the front lines, so to speak. And the conservative philosophy is that they should be barefoot, pregnant, and maybe driving a momvan. In Conservative Land, men run things...and taxes are low, from a philosophical more than a fiscal standpoint. So funding schools is not a priority there. After all, how much edumacation will young Clem need to start working at his dad's wrecking yard? And how much will young Sadie need to get knocked up? Not much.

Another observation, specifically about weather...here in Portland, we get occasional snow and freezing rain, which wreak havoc simply because no one is really prepared for or used to it. So we have one or two employees per district whose job is to get on the roads that access schools to determine if they're safe and suggest alternate routes or outright closure. The kicker...is that they're on the job at 4 am. That costs money, as you gotta pay somebody pretty well to have them get up in the middle of the night in winter and drive around on icy roads.

But in Bend, up in the mountains, the schools have refused to fund those road inspections, saying that residents should be prepared for winter weather. I can't help but note that Bend is MUCH more conservative than Portland. Is school safety an equally high priority in both places?

We are by no means a poor district.  We did however sell several smaller neighborhood schools for a dollar, and then build a few new larger schools and double the size off others so that all would be state of the art for tech and specdial needs requirements.  We have lots of options for after school, but there are not many good ones for before school for the little kids.

Trump's BBB ended funding for a lot of educational programs including ones that funded early drop off and late pick-up. Plus, Trump is eliminating the department of education so I think going forward the best you are going to be able to count on in a lot of states is the bare minimum. 

But no worries smile and tell your daughter she is getting what you voted for.

  Now for the truth -- The premise that "Trump's BBB ended funding" for educational programs, including those for early drop-off and late pick-up, has elements that are incorrect or misleading, primarily due to the name of the legislation and the nature of the funding changes.--However, reports from mid-2025 indicate that the Trump administration temporarily froze or withheld billions of dollars in congressionally approved education grants during a review period, causing chaos and uncertainty for school districts that rely on those funds. These frozen funds included money for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant program (Title IV-B), which specifically funds summer and after-school programs that often provide early drop-off and late pick-up options for parents.After facing significant bipartisan pressure and lawsuits from numerous states, the Trump administration announced the release of most of the frozen funds in July 2025 --In short, while the Trump administration did cause a temporary funding crisis for after-school programs by freezing approved grants, the idea that a "Trump's BBB" permanently ended their funding is inaccurate based on the current information. The funds were eventually released --