Bus rides reduced in school budget

More Carson City students may be walking or riding with parents to school next year.

If the Carson City School Board approves its proposed budget Tuesday, the district would eliminate the positions of 35 employees, including 11 bus drivers, who were laid off this year.

The move would help close an expected $7.2 million shortfall in the $53 million budget for next fiscal year.

Elementary school students would have to live 1.5 miles away from school rather than 1 mile away to be eligible for bus rides. Middle and high school students would have to live 3 miles away rather than 2 miles away.

"This is going to be a very emotional issue," said Superintendent Richard Stokes.

More students will walk or be driven to school because of the changes, he said.

The district will hire more crossing guards and likely create more paths and sidewalks to make sure the busing changes don't cause safety problems, he said.

Other employees who were laid off this year and will have their positions eliminated include: Eight teachers, eight teaching aids, five custodians, a clerk, a library media technician and an auto service worker.

The district could rehire some employees if the Legislature reduces Gov. Jim Gibbons' proposed budget cuts to K-12 education, said Jose Delfin, associate superintendent of human resources.

Under Assembly Bill 563, salaries would be cut 4.6 percent rather than 6 percent. The bill also would restore $270 million of the $690 million in cuts proposed.

Delfin said crafting a budget before the state has decided on education cuts is difficult.

"We're trying to make it black but everything around us is gray," he said.

The position cuts would close $2.6 million of the schools' $7.2 million shortfall.

Other savings in the final budget to close the shortfall include:

- $1.8 million in budget surpluses from previous years

- $1.7 million in cuts for principals to use on instruction

- $550,000 by postponing the purchase of new textbooks

- $550,000 through reductions in utility and maintenance costs

District Fiscal Services Director Bob Anderson said at least the utility and maintenance cost cuts will be easy to absorb.

"It's like instead of going to the movies five or six times a year, you go twice," he said.

Other items in the final $53 million budget include a year-round, full-day kindergarten pilot program and $10,000 in hiring bonuses for five special education teachers.

- The Associated Press contributed to this report.