Bittersweet results for TBC as State awards local school SR2S Grants, rejects TBC Statewide Proposal.
Nearly ten years of key TBC involvement in the effort to bring federal transportation dollars to Texas and other state departments of transportation (DOTs) for the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program resulted in both success and disappointment for TBC last month.
The Texas Transportation Commission (TCC) approved 245 local Safe Routes to School (SRTS) grant applications from across the state for a total of nearly 25 million dollars on September 27. A Texas Bicycle Coalition Education Fund (TBCEF) grant application to expand the three-year-old BikeTexas Safe Routes to School pilot program to a statewide level was not selected for funding by the Commission.
"We are very pleased that significant funding for Safe Routes to School has finally become available for Texas communities." said Executive Director Robin Stallings. "We are proud to have been very involved in efforts since 1998 to establish the framework and funding for Safe Routes to School nationwide. We are, of course, extremely disappointed that the TCC declined to fund our application to implement a statewide program in Texas."
In 2004, the TBCEF received a 1.4 million dollar grant from the U.S.
Department of Education to expand the successful Marin County
(California) SRTS model to a regional level. The pilot was started in
anticipation of SRTS monies from the federal SAFETEA-LU funding that
became available in September 2007 through the Texas Department of
Transportation (TxDOT).
Since 2004, TBCEF's BikeTexas SR2S regional pilot program employed
eight Local Outreach Coordinators (LOCs) working in and around the
cities of Fort Worth, Wichita Falls, Amarillo and Lubbock to promote
school biking and walking events, support elementary school PE teachers
in implementing the SuperCyclist Curriculum, conduct on-site school
environment surveys and traffic counts and work with parents and
community leaders to improve the knowledge, attitudes and physical
amenities like sidewalks that are factors in children walking or biking
to school. The program shut down on September 30 as pilot funding
expired.
"My second greatest satisfaction" said former Lubbock LOC Durwood
Mayfield, "has been to go by a school where there were one or two bikes
in the rack before we worked there, and now see seven or eight." "My
greatest satisfaction," Mayfield continued, "is knowing that we have
changed the kids' behavior on bikes by teaching them the safe way to
ride."
On October 1, TBCEF began the ninth year of the TxDOT-funded Texas
SuperCyclist Program to provide a 15-unit bike safety curriculum and to
certify elementary school PE teachers and university student P.E.
majors across Texas to implement the Texas SuperCyclist Curriculum.
This program has certified over 3000 teachers and has impacted (a low
point estimate of) at least 200,000 Texas schoolchildren.
"We are very grateful for the strong support from Texas cyclists over
the years." Stallings said. "Our mission is still very focused on
bicycle access, safety and education, especially for children."
TBC
