The Senate bill calls for $70 million a year, less than one-third the amount calculated for the original program and less that one-half of the program included in the House legislation (average of $166 million per year.) The Senate funding level is inadequate to create a meaningful program or begin to meet the demand.

The demand for Safe Routes to School projects is clear. In states that have established Safe Routes to School funding programs, requests have far outstripped funding. In Texas, a $ 3 million pool was increased to $5 million after it was swamped by 45 million in requests. In its first year, the California program received requests totaling $130 million for $20 million in funding.

Safety:

• A National Safe Kids Campaign survey found that nearly sixty percent of parents and children encounter at least one serious hazard along their route to school.
• A Centers for Disease Control survey found that forty percent of parents cited traffic as a major barrier to allowing children to walk to school.
• Per mile traveled, traveling to school in a car driven by a teen is most hazardous, followed by bicycling (about 10 deaths per 100 million trips), then walking (about 5 deaths per 100 million trips).
• Each year, about 800 school-age children die in traffic during normal school travel hours, and about 152,000 are injured.
• About 22 percent of children killed in traffic during school travel hours die while walking or bicycling.

Pedestrian injury remains the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 5 to 14.  Each year,

• nearly 720 children ages 14 and under die from pedestrian-related injuries; and
• more than 46,000 are treated in hospital emergency rooms.

Bicycles are associated with more childhood injuries than any other consumer product except the automobile.  We know that almost all bicycle crashes occur within one mile of the bicyclist's home and each year:

• more than 170 children die from bicycle-related injuries;
• approximately 356,000 children ages 14 and under are treated in hospital emergency rooms for bicycle-related injuries;
• nearly half of all children ages 14 and under hospitalized for bicycle-related injuries are diagnosed with traumatic brain injury.

Above statistics were compiled by the National SAFEKIDS Campaign.

General School Statistics:

Table with school districts by state.

School Transportation Statistics:

• Since 1970, the portion of public school children transported by bus has increased from 43% to 57%.
• Per-pupil busing costs have grown from $394 in 1990-91 to $521 in 1999-2000.
• In 1999-2000, $13 billion was spent on busing children to public schools, at an average cost of $521 per student.

• In Illinois, about 153,800 students, (15 percent of all those who ride a bus) do so because it is considered too dangerous to walk the less than 1.5 miles to school.
• In Chester County, near Philadelphia, two students who attend Uwchlan Hills Elementary School are an extreme example of hazard busing: they ride the bus to cross a busy street: roughly 90 yards. The street has no crosswalk.

• A California survey found that physically-fit students achieved more academically, scoring higher on standardized tests.