CAMARILLO : Parents May Have to Pay to Bus Students

Camarillo parents may have to pay about $475 to bus each student to school in the fall if the state passes a budget that reduces funding to public schools, Pleasant Valley School District officials say.

State lawmakers are considering a reduction of up to $500 per pupil in reimbursements to local school districts. Such drastic action could force Pleasant Valley officials to cut $2 million to $3.5 million from the district’s 1992-93 budget, Budget Director Jan Maez told the board of trustees Thursday.

The district already plans to cut $171,000 from its $23.5-million budget for 1992-93, after trimming $1.8 million from its budget last year.

The subject of school busing came up Thursday during a debate over whether to buy two new buses to transport students from eastern Camarillo to schools with space to take them. The board decided to stagger school starting times instead of spending $25,000 a year over seven years to add two new buses to the district’s aging fleet.

Several parents during Thursday’s busing debate suggested that the financially strapped district stop spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on busing to save money. They said it should be the parents’ responsibility to get their kids to school.

Trustee Leonard Diamond said he has always favored such a suggestion, but has failed to garner enough support in the past.

But if the proposed state budget cuts are adopted, Supt. Shirley Carpenter said, the district will have no choice but to start charging parents for busing as the Conejo Valley Unified School District plans to do next year.

“The district would love to get out of the transportation business,” she said. “It is a very costly situation.”