Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Star-Press Reports IDOE Hears Pleas to Keep Buses Running in Muncie

From the Muncie Star-Press:

Several community members urged the Indiana Department of Education to deny a waiver that would allow Muncie Community Schools to end student transportation beginning next school year.

The reasons ranged from student safety concerns to mismanagement of district funds.

About 60 community members attended the nearly two-hour waiver hearing Monday in the Northside Middle School auditorium. Twenty-one people made public comments.

Three representatives from the Indiana Department of Education sat on the stage to hear those comments — Michael LaRocco, director of transportation; Melissa Ambre, director of school finance, and Michael Moore, director of legal affairs.

The district applied for the waiver back in June, which would waive the three-year notice required by law to end bus services. If the waiver is denied, the district must come up with funds to continue services until the end of that three-year period.

On Nov. 5, a referendum was voted down that would have increased property taxes to raise the $3.3 million needed to run the school buses each of the next seven years.
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See the full article here:

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013312100012&nclick_check=1