REED CITY -- Another northern Michigan school district is making cuts...this time it is the Reed City School District.
The board there has decided to cut busing services for next year; it’s a move that will more than $1.5 million dollars.
Kristina Borst is a concerned parent and says, "How are my kids getting to school? If there's not a bus coming to my drive way... I don't get home until after 11 o'clock in the morning -- how many times can they be late? What’s acceptable here and I ask isn't there anything else we can do??"
Borst has three kids that go to reed city schools and as a single mother who works the night shift -- the decision to stop busing -- has her asking a lot of questions....
Borst says, "What are we supposed to do? Am I supposed to take them out of school and home school them? Am I supposed to take them somewhere else-- I don't know!"
Superintendent of Reed City Schools Steven Westhoff says the board didn't have many options.
Westhoff says, "It's the best bad decision that you can make at this point in time... and it's a decision we shouldn't even have to make. What I can say to parents is --first off I understand your anger and you have a right to be angry but the people you should be angry with are your leaders in Lansing."
Westhoff says they chose to get rid of busing instead of laying off 6 teachers.
Westhoff says, "Our job really is to make sure we provide the best quality education we can -- and that obviously occurs in the classroom."
It’s a cut that will leave more than 600 students searching for a ride to school --- and more than a dozen transportation workers looking for jobs
Westhoff says, "We want to look at ways we can carpool...we want to look at other options... what we'd really like if parents would get a hold of our leaders from Lansing and say fund education... kids in reed city have the right to transportation."
