Besides charging a bus fee, some districts have reduced transportation services or even eliminated bussing altogether. Last February, a budget task force of parents and school district staff strongly recommended that Amador County schools charge families for bus service. Collecting a proposed fee to ride the bus would prevent the district from having to make $150,000 in reductions that would need to come from other school programs. In addition to saving classroom programs, collected fees would also be used to replace old school buses when necessary. In 2001, Amador County’s school bus fleet was rated as one of the oldest in the state. Since then, major efforts have been taken to upgrade the buses – in fact, the school district was recently awarded a brand new school bus through a grant program—that bus is expected to arrive within the next month. The Amador County Unified School District Board of Trustees will be discussing the possibility of charging bussing fees at their regular November 14 meeting at the CountyAdministration Center. The public is invited to provide input – the meeting begins at 7 pm.