State lawmakers set aside 38% less than the requested $42 million for school transportation for the upcoming school year. The state Board of Education Finance and Infrastructure Committee meets to discuss options to address the shortfall, including reducing bus service.
Read More →The Illinois State Board of Education is expected to draft a bill that would eliminate the requirement for public school districts to transport students and base state-to-district reimbursements on an average per-student or per-mile rate. Districts could charge parents a fee to make up the difference between the state reimbursement and the actual cost of transporting students.
Read More →Union County Public Schools in Maynardville may cut the service for eight days at the end of the school year to offset the district’s $200,000 budget shortfall. The board of education will review options at a May 3 meeting.
Read More →In the American Association of School Administrators’ new survey, respondents project new budget cuts in the 2013-14 school year, though the cuts may not be as deep as in the earlier years of the recession. About two-thirds of school districts surveyed eliminated positions in 2011-12.
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The Parkland School District says it has the potential to generate about $150,000 in a year by selling 16 ad spaces inside a pilot fleet of 46 school buses. The signs will be made of a magnetic material and secured just above the bus windows.
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Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed Senate Bill 81, which replaces the $248 million that was cut for the service with an across-the-board revenue limit reduction at all school districts in the state for the 2011-12 fiscal year. Mike Rea of the California Association of School Transportation Officials tells SBF this is welcome news, but he notes that more work must be done to restore funding for the long term, and he shares the association’s efforts to this end.
Read More →The Mackinac Center for Public Policy's 2011 school privatization survey found that 12.2 percent of districts in Michigan use privatized bus service, which is nearly triple the 2006 rate of 4.4 percent.
Read More →Senate Bill 81 would replace the recent $248 million reduction in funding for home-to-school transportation with an across-the-board reduction to all districts equal to about $42 per student. Officials say this would shift the budget burden to suburban districts that don't offer much bus service.
Read More →Pupil transportation at Ukiah (Calif.) Unified School District will continue this school year without any changes even though the district’s funding for the service has been reduced by $467,000 due to statewide cuts. The district’s reserves are able to absorb the one-time reduction.
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Southern Humboldt Unified School District’s board of trustees votes to lay off 11 bus drivers and three other transportation employees in the wake of a more than $710,000 reduction in funding for transportation services, which is due to statewide budget cuts. The district’s superintendent discusses with SBF the next steps that will be taken to provide service for students.
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