Cuts slash school transport

[ Originally published on: Saturday, October 31, 2009 ]

The county's regional schools are going to have to absorb hundreds of thousands of dollars for school busing and local homeless services may be curtailed because of the governor's mid-year budget cuts.

For example, the governor's $18 million cut in regional school transportation reimbursement may cost the Mohawk Trail Regional School District an estimated $250,000 to $275,000 for the remainder of the school year.

Mohawk Business Manager Joanne Blier said Friday morning the district hasn't received specific details from the Department of Education on the dollar amount of the cut. However, school officials have been told to plan on 29 percent reimbursement for this academic year and the next one.

Although the state technically is responsible for 100 percent of regional busing costs, it has never paid full reimbursement, and these cuts seem to dip to new lows. The regional school bus cuts hit small towns while sparing bigger communities like Greenfield and cities and towns in the Boston metropolitan area.

Mohawk Trail school system has about 1,300 students, but geographically is the largest school district in the state, covering 250 square miles and nine Franklin County towns. When the K-12 district formed in the early 1990s, the state promised full reimbursement for busing as an inducement to form supposedly more economical districts. The district has received as much as 90 percent reimbursement just a few years ago, said Blier. The district spends about $1 million per year for regular school bus transportation that qualifies for state reimbursement, she said.

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