Carson bus routes to remain same

Carson City will not be reducing bus service next school year, despite earlier plans to do so, Superintendent Richard Stokes said.

As part of cost-saving measures, district officials laid off 11 bus drivers in May with plans to decrease services when school resumed in the fall.

Elementary school students who lived within 1.5 miles from their schools would not have had bus service. High and middle school students would have had to walk up to three miles to get to their schools.

However, the district received more funding than anticipated from the Legislature, and the bus drivers were reinstated.

Walk zones will remain one mile for elementary students and two miles for secondary students.

"The decision was made based on student safety," Stokes said. "There are a number of busy roads and thoroughfares our students would have to cross. We wanted to assure to the best of our abilities that our students would be safe."

Faced with historic budget cuts, school district officials based next year's spending on the low estimate of funding coming in.

The initial budget estimated the district would receive $5,846 per pupil enrolled through the distributive school account.

Instead, the Legislature allotted $6,228 per pupil.

The bus drivers were among 35 positions eliminated as part of a $7.2 million budget cut.

Other positions included eight teachers, eight teaching aids, five custodians, a clerk, a library media technician and an auto service worker.

Other cuts include $1.8 million in budget surpluses from previous years, $1.7 million in cuts to instructional spending for principals, $550,000 by postponing the purchase of new textbooks and $550,000 through reductions in utility and maintenance costs.

Stokes said the future remains uncertain and there are no plans to restore any of the other cuts.

"We're still very cautious about spending," he said. "That's why we're still taking a very conservative approach to our spending next year."