Massachusetts governor scraps plan to cut $18M for school transportation

BOSTON — Massachusetts will not cut $18 million in regional and vocational school district busing, The Patriot Ledger reported earlier this week.

Gov. Deval Patrick has asked his secretaries of finance and education to analyze the state budget and present him with a plan for restoring the money by next week, Education Secretary Paul Reville told the news source.

The $18 million cut, proposed by Patrick this fall as part of his emergency, mid-year budget-cutting plan, would have affected up to 40 school districts.

“We’ve heard loudly and clearly from a number of districts that this would have a significant impact on them,” Reville said. “It would have been hard to avoid cutting into programs or laying off teachers.”

Reville also told The Patriot Ledger that the state’s secretary of administration and finance will be looking at options this week for restoring the money, including using stimulus funds, layoffs at the state level and cuts in other areas of government or education.