BUFFALO, NY - The Buffalo School Board reached a settlement deal with the Charter Schools for Applied Technologies, saving the district from paying out more than 6 million dollars in damages.
The suit dates back to 2009. At the time, the district changed its transportation policy to save money and cut off bus transportation to the Charter School for Applied Technologies on Kenmore Avenue in Kenmore.
This forced CSAT -- a high performing school -- to pay to bus 1,500 Buffalo students to and from school. Andrew Lyle is the principal at CSAT.
"On average it's $1.6 million a year [it's] extremely a huge drain," he said.
Three Buffalo school board members of the new majority on the board -- Larry Quinn, Jay McCarthy and Patricia Pierce -- proposed the settlement. Within the agreement, Buffalo schools will start busing the charter school students next year.
The settlement will slow down CSAT's transportation costs.
"Using budgetary money that could be used to support kids academically, we have to trim our budgets to make sure we're covering that cost," Lyle said.
The settlement will also prevent the district from paying out more than $6 million in damages. All of this money -- could be used for other things, like educating students.
