MOUNT ORAB, Ohio | Buses will be rolling for Western Brown School District students in kindergarten through eighth grade next year.
During a board of education meeting April 22, the board voted to approve the reinstatement of busing for K-8 students.
In January, bus access for all WBSD students who lived within two miles of the school was halted, citing budget constraints.
“The Western Brown community has felt the impact of the K-8 transportation reductions that were implemented in January,” said Roger Taylor, WBSD Director of Operations and Transportation. “It has been a very difficult past few months for the transportation department and those families impacted by the reductions. The decision to reinstate K-8 busing within a two mile driving distance has been made in response to an anticipated increase in funding under Governor Kasich’s state budget proposal.”
Though K-8 students will be able to ride buses to school for the 2013-2014 school year, high school students outside the perimeter will still have to find a way to school, officials said.
Schools in Ohio are not required to provide transportation for students living within a two-mile radius of the schools, though most try to accommodate such students when financially possible, officials said.
“At this time, we are not positioned to be able to reinstate the 9-12 reductions,” Taylor said. “Despite the financial outlook moving forward being brighter, we will continue to be as strategic as possible in the maintenance and transportation departments to reduce and avoid expenditures. Our focus is and always will be to provide a quality education to our students while at the same demonstrating fiscal responsibility on behalf of our stakeholders.”
