Schools
Approved Budget Calls for Boston Middle Schoolers to Ride MBTA Buses
Cutting several yellow school buses is expected to save the city $8 million, officials said.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh passed his first budget on Wednesday, including the Boston school budget that now calls for sending several middle schoolers to school on MBTA buses and subways, The Boston Globe reported.
The Fiscal Year 2015 school budget calls for cuts to bus rides for seventh- and eighth-graders, a change that is expected to affect more than 4,500 students, who will receive MBTA passes. School officials, moreover, are looking to test an MBTA option for sixth graders on a voluntary basis.
The City Council voted 7-6 to pass the school budget, which totaled about $2.7 billion for FY15, which begins July 1. The approved budget calls for more than 100 layoffs in the Boston school department, and officials said eliminating the traditional school buses will essentially save the city about $8 million, according to the Globe.
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