Giving Compass' Take:

· According to Melanie Asmar at Chalkbeat, more Denver students will qualify for free bus passes thanks to the Regional Transportation District lowering youth fares.

· How will this affect the budget of Denver Public Schools? How will this new lower fare help students?  

· Learn how school transportation relates to educational equity. 

More Denver high school students will qualify next month for passes to ride public buses to school, thanks to a lower youth fare being rolled out by the Regional Transportation District.

The money Denver Public Schools will save on RTD passes will allow the district to relax its eligibility criteria. Currently, students must live more than 3.5 miles from their high school to get a pass. As of January, students who live more than 2.5 miles from school will qualify.

The district estimates 1,700 additional high school students will get a free RTD pass. That will bring the total number of students who qualify to more than 4,400.

Denver Public Schools does not provide yellow bus service to most high school students, and there are reasons other than proximity that students might not qualify for an RTD pass.

Read the full article about Denver school transportation by Melanie Asmar at Chalkbeat.