School districts aren’t required under the state constitution to provide bus transportation for students, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled last week.
The Franklin Township district was sued after it cut free bus service for the 2011-12 school year. The 9,000-student district turned to a private contractor and required parents to pay for their children to ride, after voters rejected a referendum to raise property taxes to help close an $8 million budget shortfall.
A state appeals court found the district violated the constitution when it stopped providing transportation to and from school. But the Supreme Court rejected that, ruling that while the constitution refers to a free public education, “the framers did not intend for every aspect of public education to be free.”
