<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt;color:#000000;"><div>Many parents blame the changes on the Legislature.<br><br>In slashing $128 million from the state's public education budget for 2010-11, lawmakers ordered a 10 percent cut in how much each district is reimbursed for the previous year's busing costs. For Meridian, with more than 35,000 students, that meant $1 million in lost transportation money, plus another $369,744 in lost funding because its per-mile cost last year of $3.68, and per-rider cost of $881 were above the state average of $3.47 and $835.<br><br>District finance director Alex Simpson said each year the state gives a district 85 percent of what it paid for transportation the previous year. So the latest 10 percent cut ordered by lawmakers means Meridian's transportation funding from the state will be 25 percent below
what it cost to operate its bus system last year.<br><br>Brad Jensen, director of transportation for the Idaho State Department of Education, said he has been receiving "all kinds of calls" from parents since districts announced major cuts would result in changes.<br>Meridian has had to cut their school bus services and parents are upset. An excerpt from the story in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Statesman:<br><br></span>"A child walking a mile-and-a-half is a long way," Jensen said. "As a parent, I would be concerned, too. But we can't bankrupt the transportation budget. The money is just not in the checkbook."<br><br>Things could get worse. Lawmakers have told districts that continuing high unemployment and stagnant sales tax revenues could mean mid-year holdbacks of up to 5.5 percent.<br><br>Ali Hinshaw, president of the Sawtooth Middle School Parent-Teacher Association, said she has a solution.<br><br>"We need to get some new people in the
Legislature, because right now education is not a priority," Hinshaw said. "They're just a bunch of farmers. And until our kids are more important than cattle, nothing is going to change."<br><br><span>Read more: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/07/22/1275799/meridian-bus-plansspark-ire.html#storylink=omni_popular#ixzz0uWHemxXr">http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/07/22/1275799/meridian-bus-plansspark-ire.html#storylink=omni_popular#ixzz0uWHemxXr</a></span><br><br></div>
</div><br>
</body></html>