MISSION VIEJO : Saddleback Unified Resumes Busing Fee

The Saddleback Valley Unified School District is registering students for its busing program, which is being resumed after a court dispute over whether schools can charge families for bus service.

Parents can register their children at the district office, 25631 Diseno Drive, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday or by mail. Registration also will be on two Saturdays, Aug. 17 and Aug. 24, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The cost is $175 each for a family’s first two children and $75 for a third. Additional children are free. To qualify for the program, children in kindergarten through second grade must live one mile or more from school. Children in grades three through six must live two miles from school. Students in grades seven and eight must live 2 1/2 miles from school, and high school students must live 3 1/2 miles away.

Fees will be waived for children enrolled in special education or those from low-income families.

The school board voted in June to impose the fees despite complaints from parents who said they live within walking distance of a school but whose children, because of overcrowding, are required to attend schools miles away.

In 1989, a state court ruled that public schools cannot charge for services. But the state Court of Appeal recently ruled in a case involving the Arcadia Unified School District that school districts can charge for busing.

The state Supreme Court agreed earlier this month to hear an appeal of that ruling and could issue a decision later this year. Saddleback Valley has agreed to keep the fees it collects in an escrow account in case the court rules against the schools and it is forced to make refunds.