From the Muncie Star-Press:
The Indiana Department of Education has denied a waiver submitted by Muncie Community Schools to end student bus service.
The district was informed this morning (Friday), according to MCS officials.
MCS applied for the waiver with the IDOE back in June, hoping to forgo the mandatory three-year waiting period required to end student bus service. A referendum that would have paid the $3.3 million for bus service by way of a property tax increase failed in November.
Because the waiver was not granted, MCS must now find a way to come up with the funds needed to keep the buses running until the end of the waiting period.
Administrators have warned some of it could likely come from staffing.
Three representatives from the IDOE were in town last month for a public hearing on the waiver, where MCS Chief Financial Officer Mark Burkhart said that he would expect the IDOE to offer some guidance on how to keep the buses running in a district that is dealing with drastic funding cuts to its transportation fund.
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http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2014140110006
