Extent of bus troubles for county schools remains unclear

Political campaigns are organic. Candidates can plan all they want to run on this or that issues, but once the run to election day begins there's no telling how it will go.

So it is no surprise then that Anne Arundel County school bus schedules have become an issue in the first election season for the county Board of Education. This was on the agendas of some candidates for the school board in the June primary, but not all.

Old school hands — educators, administrators, parents and old community journalists mostly — will tell you that every year, parents complain about bus schedules. New students, new stops, new drivers make a three-part harmony of discord in the first weeks of the school year.

The rub this year, of course, is an expensive investment this year. Anne Arundel County Public Schools paid $800,000 to purchase transportation routing software intended to identify inefficiencies and make the county's network of buses more reliable, economical and safe.

Some candidates suggest the rollout of the software has made a usually bumpy first few weeks on school buses an even rougher ride than usual. Others, notably the incumbent board president, suggest this is all just routine.

How do you measure whether complaints are up because problems have increased, as opposed to greater grousing because candidates are talking up the idea that problems exist?

Right now, it's difficult to tell if this new system is a fix for existing problems — one that will make further school start times changes possible if a future board is interested — or just an expensive bit of technology that still needs work.

Conveniently, we have a way to judge the public perception of this.

Voters in general, but not always, are pretty good judges of political twaddle. If the complaints about bus service are more than the normal shake-out period, candidates who campaign on this issue will see it register for them in November.

If this is just seasonal grumbling, those who define it as such will be the ones who look like they understand the rhythms of school life.

There are plenty of issues for school board candidates to focus on, and most of the candidates are doing a good job of talking about them. Spending, construction, teacher salaries, school safety are all topics voters want to hear about from the field of hopefuls.

For the moment, however, bus troubles are the topic of conversation. We're curious to see where it goes.