FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, IL (KMOX)-Some local lawmakers should expect to be hearing from patrons of a metro east school district whose children will have to walk to school because of state budget cuts.

Because of a 50 percent cut in state transportation funding, the Grant School District in Fairview Heights is losing half its 8 busses, leaving 150 students to find their own way to school.

Superintendent Matt Stines tells KMOX that because of the state cuts, and restrictions on how state money can be spent, the district simply had no choice, “When you’re talking about transportation and busing, that fund stands by itself. Either the money is there for transportation or it’s not. I don’t have the flexibility to take money from my building fund and put in transportation to pay for buses.”

In response to concerns from parents, Stines has posted the addresses of local lawmakers on the district’s website, “I let them know that contacting their legislators is an option for them. They can let them know how unhappy they are with the funding cuts and how it’s impacting them directly.”

Stines says the transportation funding cuts are especially tough on smaller districts, because they don’t have a way to make up the lost funding.