Raise your hand if you had former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich pegged as a staunch advocate for walking and biking to school? A few days after schools across the country celebrated Walk to School Day, a middle school in Saratoga Springs, New York is in the news once again for their policy prohibiting students from walking or biking to school. Apparently, Newt Gingrich caught wind of their policy and wrote the school district a letter urging the school district to drop their policy.

Decades after school buses became a symbol for educational integration, high fuel costs and shrinking budgets are causing school districts to make cutbacks in bus service — and pushing children to attend school closer to home. (Wall Street Journal — Robert Tomsho)

The high cost of fuel is rocking school district budgets in Metro Detroit, as many face six-figure increases in energy costs. (Detroit Free Press — Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki)

A new study from the University of Cincinnati says that more than 30 percent of public schools are within a quarter mile of a major highway, placing them in the “air pollution danger zone” that puts students at risk for respiratory diseases.

With school districts spending as much as $438 every time they fill up a bus with diesel fuel, many are looking to cut costs by consolidating routes, increasing fees, and shrinking their areas of service. (San Jose Mercury News — Dana Hull)

The federal government’s decision to cut off funding for bus routes intended to serve school kids is going to leave schools and their students out in the cold, according to one commentator. (Campaign for America’s Future — Isaiah J. Poole)