In March, Etiwanda School District launched a "shared cost model" pilot transportation program for students who live at least 3 miles from school. District officials say that the program "did not generate the interest nor the revenue that was expected," and the board decides to discontinue it after the last day of school.
A school board member at a Virginia district told the Washington Post, “We are not in the transportation business. We are in the education business.” That statement seems misguided and even unsettling. Yes, school districts’ primary responsibility is to educate children. But that doesn’t mean it’s their only responsibility. …
The bill, signed into law last week, is designed to give flexibility to school districts facing transportation budget reductions. The legislation allows districts that have lost at least 10% of their transportation fund levies due to property tax caps to use money from other funds to pay for transportation through 2016.
The Indiana legislation would allow school corporations that have lost at least 10% of their transportation fund levies due to circuit breaker credits (property tax caps) to use money from other funds to pay for transportation through 2016. The bill unanimously passes the state Senate.
After a 9-year-old girl was fatally struck by a pickup truck while walking home in December, parents petitioned the Etiwanda (Calif.) School District to bring back school bus service. The school board decides to implement a pilot transportation program for students who live at least 3 miles from school.
The Decatur Township school board passes a resolution to notify the Indiana Department of Education that it may terminate transportation services in 2017. Superintendent Matt Prusiecki says that "unfortunately, due to our financial situation, this is a cut we need to consider," but it could be avoided if local voters pass a property tax increase.
Parents with children who attend two schools located near the site of a recent accident have started two online petitions to urge California's Etiwanda School District to resume bus service. Bus service for regular-education students was discontinued in the 2010-11 school year due to budget issues.
Alpine School District in American Fork, Utah, faced a 5% cut in federal funding for special education due to sequestration, and in working to balance the needs in the classroom and on buses, the district reduced the number of aides for special-needs routes from 100 to 67.
Hoover (Ala.) City Schools holds a forum to address the board of education’s decision to stop the service with the 2014-15 school year, and parents, students and other community members attend and tell school officials that their decision was a mistake. The district’s superintendent says he is still exploring other variations of the plan, such as phasing in the bus cuts over a longer period of time.
Among the changes to take effect on Aug. 26 at Maryland's Harford County Public Schools are four new elementary schools being added to the fourth tier schedule, elimination of previously approved exemptions to the district’s transportation policy, depot bus stops established for magnet school students, and consolidated bus stops established for middle and high school bus routes. Officials say the changes will save the district approximately $890,000.
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