What this article fails to address is the why?

Presumably, the schools aren't growing smaller, so why is this happening? Is it because the kids are walking or riding bikes more? Is it because parents are driving their kids to school?

There must be a reason and the article fails to address that.

I went to a meeting where they discussed this. The key is: "And the district continues to examine ways to get more children attending neighborhood schools where they won't need to rely on school buses to get to class." Goldman stopped allowing transfers between schools so most kids go to their neighborhood schools.

They may be making less money, but it is probably an essential service for the families who are receiving free or reduced prices. School is not a for-profit business.

Good question PA resident.

1) Is it like Jim said, everyone is within walking distance? I doubt it.
2) Less students?
3) Costs to much, cheaper to drive the kids? (all the stories one hears about how bad the parent drivers are, this maybe the answer)

Even if the ridership has dropped, the best thing to do is get smaller buses, more fuel friendly buses.

I was bused from Whisman rd to Graham jr high long time ago and it was a valuable service indeed.

Any parents or kids out there that can explain this?

When the district reduced the number of buses a few years ago, they began limiting the number of kids who were allowed to ride them, since there were fewer seats available. One of the earliest priorities was, logically, giving available seats to lower income students with fewer alternatives for transportation to and from school. It shouldn't be much of a surprise that these students (and, now, their younger siblings as well) are still the ones most likely to ride the bus. And parents whose students were unable to get a seat on a bus previously may not be aware that the availability may have changed.