Culver City : Deukmejian Vetoes Funds for Busing

Gov. George Deukmejian has vetoed a bill by state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles) that would have provided $189,000 to bus students in the Culver City Unified School District.

In vetoing the legislation, Deukmejian wrote that the bill’s “merits do not outweigh the need for funding top-priority programs and continuing a prudent reserve for economic uncertainties.”

Rosenthal sought the special funding because Culver City, unlike other school districts, is not reimbursed by the state for its transportation costs.

Culver City school officials said that when Proposition 13 was approved in 1978, districts that bused their students received additional money from the state. Culver City did not have a busing program. Since then, however, the district has closed four schools and begun busing students at its own expense. The state has not picked up the cost.