California budget cuts would lengthen bus rides at local district
LOS ANGELES — Some Los Angeles Unified School District bus rides would increase to as long as 90 minutes each way next year as a result of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $62 million in cuts to the district’s transportation services. Approximately 100 routes would be canceled, and fewer students could qualify to receive service because the walking distance to school would be defined as three miles instead of two. To read the full story, click here.

Fire at transportation facility prompts bus evacuations
ISSAQUAH, Wash. — A brush fire at a local school district’s transportation facility earlier this month necessitated the evacuation of 20 new school buses from the burning area. Fire and district officials initially believed that the regeneration exhaust system in the buses could have ignited the fire, but a district official said its cause remains undetermined. To read the full story, click here.

District could install school bus surveillance cameras
NATRONA HEIGHTS, Pa. — Highland School District board members recently discussed the possibility of purchasing and installing surveillance cameras on the school buses supplied by the district’s contractor. Sound will be added to the video if the district’s solicitor receives clarification from the county’s district attorney that he will not prosecute the case. (State law prohibits someone making a video recording of another person that includes sound without his or her knowledge and consent.) To read the full story, click here.