"When Alejandro Velazquez, 15, was selecting a high school last year, he decided on Washington Irving in Manhattan because of its strong Spanish-English bilingual program. It was a 40-minute trip from his home in the Bronx, but his mother assented, in part because he could travel free."
His family’s calculus, he said, would have been different had he needed to pay $40 a month or more to get to and from school, a reality that will begin next fall if budget cuts passed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authorityboard on Wednesday are carried out. His mother, an immigrant from Ecuador, works as a cook in a Bronx restaurant to support him and his 10-year-old brother, and there is little cash to spare.
“If I had to pay for the MetroCard, my mother would have preferred a school closer to me — there’s one right down the block from our house,” he said.
The cuts to the student subsidies for the MetroCards are not yet final. The M.T.A. board will have a public comment period over the
His family’s calculus, he said, would have been different had he needed to pay $40 a month or more to get to and from school, a reality that will begin next fall if budget cuts passed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authorityboard on Wednesday are carried out. His mother, an immigrant from Ecuador, works as a cook in a Bronx restaurant to support him and his 10-year-old brother, and there is little cash to spare.
“If I had to pay for the MetroCard, my mother would have preferred a school closer to me — there’s one right down the block from our house,” he said.
The cuts to the student subsidies for the MetroCards are not yet final. The M.T.A. board will have a public comment period over the