Lakeland cuts bus routes in face of reduced funding
Students who live in certain areas in the Lakeland Joint School District will no longer be able to catch the bus to school.
Several bus routes have been eliminated for the 2025-2026 school year following the $2 million reduction of the district's levy funding from $9.52 million to $7.52 million.
"To address this deficit, the trustees and district administration reduced the transportation budget by $500,000 from the original $1 million allocation," Superintendent Rusty Taylor said in a statement Wednesday.
The cuts include five middle and high school routes and three elementary routes, as the district operates double-tier routes.
According to the informational summary prepared by Director of Transportation Jessica Dehnert and presented to the Lakeland School Board during the July 16 meeting, five bus routes were absorbed by avoiding numerous side roads, creating new non-transportation zones and increasing the walk zone.
The affected areas are:
• The north end of Spirit Lake off of Van Buren Street, impacting Timberlake Middle and High schools
• The Thayer Farms neighborhood off Lancaster Road, impacting Betty Kiefer Elementary
• The neighborhood around Betty Kiefer and the north side of the Radiant Lake neighborhood, impacting Lakeland Middle and Lakeland High schools
• All of Spirit Lake, impacting Spirit Lake Elementary
Taylor said the exact number of students affected is unknown at this time because the district is still working on enrollment numbers.
However, during the July 16 meeting, Dehnert said with the amount of kids in those areas, "there's definitely not that many that were riding our bus, but that's not to say that they'll come back and ask for in lieu of transportation money now."
The bus routes were unanimously approved by the school board.
"We understand the burden this places on families and are sincerely sorry for the disruption it causes," Taylor said in his statement. "The board of trustees and district administration will continue to monitor the adjusted routes throughout the year and make small changes if needed. Should any adjustments be made, we will notify parents and guardians in advance."
Contact Dehnert at [email protected] with questions or concerns.