Hello,

My name is Raymiro Gomez-Galiano and I am a student at USC studying NGOs and Social Change with double minors in Social Work and Juvenile Justice and Gender and Sexuality Studies.

No one should have to pay to go to school. Many low-income and underrepresented students in High School take the AVTA bus to school. There is currently no program to allow these students to ride the bus for free (unless you go to AVC or are in Foster Care). Many students from the age of 14-18 spend $3 round trip to go to school and back home. That is $15 a week and $60 a month. These are students who qualify for free/reduced lunch, college fee waivers, Calfresh (EBT), etc.

Students should not be required to spend more money to go to school just because their parents work early, their parents can’t afford gas, their parents have to drop of smaller children to school, bad weather, and much more.