Calif. Districts Reduce School Bus Service

The volatile cost of fuel is causing California school districts to curtail school bus service for thousands of students, officials and parents said.

School officials said they have little choice but to cut back on school bus service, but critics of the decision say it will put student safety at risk and stick parents with the cost of transporting kids to and from school, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

Critics also say curtailed bus service could cause more student absenteeism and hinder academic performance.

Wayne Tate, the father of a second-grader in Mission Viejo, Calif., told the newspaper his main concern is safety, following the discontinuation of school bus service at his son’s school.

For somebody that young, that’s a pretty long way to walk or ride a bike, he said. All you need is one kid getting hit to realize that maybe the (savings) wasn’t worth it.

Larry Brown, assistant superintendent of business services at Moorpark Unified School District, said it was a horribly difficult decision that no one wants to make but the district is dropping bus service for its 2,400 high school students.

California law does not mandate school bus service for most students and fewer than 15 percent of the state’s 6.3 million students ride school buses, the newspaper said.