SACRAMENTO – In a bipartisan vote, the Assembly Budget Committee voted to today to advance legislation to restore funding for school transportation. Speaking as a member of the Committee, Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) urged Chairman Bob Blumenfield to use the Committee’s influence to expedite Senate Bill 81 to the Assembly Floor for a vote.

"It will make the difference between kids missing school and people getting laid off if we don’t move it to the Floor as quickly as possible," Chesbro said.

SB 81 seeks to undo the trigger cut made by Gov. Jerry Brown that will eliminate funding for the Home to School Transportation Program. SB 81 would replace the $248 million dollar cut to the transportation program, which disproportionately impacts rural and low income students, with a smaller, more equitable reduction across all school districts in California.

Home to School Transportation is particularly important to rural schools on the North Coast, such as the Southern Humboldt Unified School District, where many students live long distances from their schools.

"It's a catastrophic problem in my district and in many other rural parts of California," Chesbro said. "Eliminating the school bus system creates dangerous situations for many children in California, but for my district it means it would be impossible for many children, if not most children in some districts, to attend school at all."

SB 81 must now get approval from the full Assembly in a floor vote, then it passes to the Senate Floor for a concurrence vote. It then goes to the governor for his signature."

Contact: Andrew Bird, communications director, (916) 319-2001