Governor restores regional transporation funding

Date: 1/11/2010

Jan. 11, 2010



By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



WILBRAHAM -- In October, the governor announced that funding for regional school transportation would be cut in an effort to balance the state's fiscal year 2010 budget. The mid-year cut would save $18 million.

In the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District, it cut $450,000 from a busing budget of about $940,000, according to Superintendent of Schools M. Martin O'Shea.

Under the proposed cut, transportation aid for the school district would have seen a decrease of 70 percent.

Thanks to the work of nearly 60 legislators, the $18 million was restored to regional transportation on Dec. 29.

"I think that everybody that had a regional school in their district was concerned," State Rep. Angelo Puppolo, who represents Wilbraham, stated. He, along with State Rep. Brian Ashe, who represents Hampden, and State Sen. Gale Candaras, who represents both towns, contacted Gov. Deval Patrick, asking him to restore the funding.

"The state thought that transportation was an isolated account. They didn't know the money came from the school as whole, that this cut would affect education," Puppolo said. "There is no way to get around transportation. It's necessary. The cut would have had to be absorbed by other areas, like the classroom. We asked the governor to look at the impact [of the cut] across the board."

When the governor realized he had to correct the situation, he did it, Puppolo added.

"This [restoration of funding] is a victory for students and education," he stated.

The funding does solve the problem of where funding for busing will come from for the school district, but O'Shea said it was a lean budget year to begin with.

"It gives us some breathing room," O'Shea said of the restoration of the funds. "Had it not been restored, it would've been a very difficult year for us. We would've only had six months to figure out, since this was a mid-year cut."

Had the money not come back to the district, O'Shea said he would essentially have to freeze the budget, hold off on non-essential expenditures and use savings that were being kept for next year's budget, which he expects will also be difficult.

O'Shea added that he hopes to provide a level services budget for the students of Hampden and Wilbraham in the next fiscal year.