NYC DOE proposes bus cuts for 7th, 8th graders

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — New York City's Department of Education (DOE) has proposed a plan to eliminate school bus service to seventh and eighth grade students, which would cut rides to school for 4,600 students.

Parents and community leaders strongly oppose the plan, according to a report in the Staten Island Advance.

Currently, the DOE offers school bus transportation to students only through the sixth grade. But because transit options are so limited on Staten Island, service has been offered to most students up until high school, and exceptions have been made at about 20 other schools across the city.

The DOE has said it has no choice but to cut the service in light of an anticipated $500 million shortfall in state education funding.