How much of an impact would going to express busing only for Wake County magnet schools have on the program?

As noted in today's article, Superintendent Tony Tata and school board vice chairman John Tedesco don't think the potential change would have too much of an impact. Tata pointed to the recent online test drive in which more than 70 percent of participants said only having express busing wouldn't discourage them from attending magnet schools.

Tedesco pointed to how the magnet school program still turns away a few thousand students each year. Even if fewer applications come in, he said he doesn't expect the use of express busing will cause them to have fewer applicants than seats.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

The question of who has the longest bus rides was also on the minds of school board members on Tuesday.

As noted in today's article, staff stressed that voluntary magnet kids account for a majority of the longest bus rides in the district. But students who are bused for diversity also are in the group with the longest rides.

Bob Snidemiller, senior director for transportation, explained that the longest 5 percent of bus ride times have an average one-way ride of 64 minutes.

School districts are being warned they might have problems getting fuel for school buses this week.

The State Department of Public Instruction says fuel vendors are saying that Hurricane Ike has disrputed their fuel supplies. This has left some school districts with only a day or two of fuel remaining.

While Wake says it's ok, Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools is in emergency mode after having not gotten two shipments of fuel. Charlotte has cancelled field trips, middle school sports and tutoring to conserve its supply. 

UPDATE

Read Charlotte's press release.