A new bill in the state legislature focusing on school district transportation reimbursement might mean deep budget cuts and a change to school bus routes.

Wade Smith, assistant superintendent of Hermiston School District, hopes it doesn’t.

Smith said although Hermiston would receive an increase of $70,000 in reimbursement money, the district doesn’t support the bill as it “flies in the face of common sense” by hurting smaller school districts whose transportation makes up a large portion of their general fund budget.

The bill asks for transportation reimbursement, usually 70 percent for school districts, to be reduced by 10 percent.

For Echo School District that might mean a cut $10,000-15,000 from its budgeted $111,000 for transportation.

“It comes at a bad time where we’ve already budgeted for it (transportation) and this doesn’t give us time to change it,” said Superintendent Rob Waite.

With a 10 percent cut, the district would have to reconsider some of its transportation methods, potentially affecting families who live outside of the city.

He said one alternative might be consolidating bus routes, especially the ones far outside of town, into one centralized location.

“But we might do something else for savings,” Waite said.

Waite said he hopes the bill, which has strong opposition, does not pass. But, he worries it could pass because it helps larger districts.

“I hope it doesn’t, but I don’t know,” he said.