Senate panel to consider bill banning school bus fees

Indiana's public school districts would be prohibited from charging fees for school bus service under a bill advancing in the General Assembly.

The state Senate's education committee scheduled a public hearing for Wednesday afternoon on the proposal that follows protests from parents in a suburban Indianapolis district who last fall had to start paying fees of at least $40 a month per child for bus service.

Leaders of the Franklin Township district say eliminating free bus service was necessary to help close an $8 million budget shortfall. The state attorney general has said he believes the district acted unconstitutionally by contracting with an outside agency and then imposing the arrangement on parents.

The House voted 92-2 last week in favor of the bill banning such fees.