One Civil Beat member thinks the school bus service on Oahu should be eliminated and the money spent on laptops instead. (Read our story on the possibility.)

An email from Curtis Kropar of Hawaiian Hope, a volunteer organization dedicated to improving technology access in Hawaii schools:

71 million for 17,000 kids is $4,176 per child. per year. (About half? of what they claim it costs to educate a child?)

17,000 kids, * $30 a month youth bus pass for “TheBus” = $510,000 a month = $4.5 million a year for 9 months. But I also realize that is statewide and not all of the kids are on this island. But in short, the DOE has been paying tens of millions a year for what it would have cost riders on TheBus just over 4.5 million.

Kill the bus service and you can buy laptops for every child in the state.

It’s worth noting that using TheBus service to transport students could cost Oahu residents a good chunk of change, since 70 percent of TheBus is subsidized by taxpayers.