Gloucester, Mass., may start charging for school bus rides

The free ride could soon be over for many Gloucester, Mass., schoolchildren. The school district, seeking to make up for reduced state aid and sagging city revenues, has proposed a $250 annual bus fee for elementary school and middle school students. The fee would be charged kindergartners through eighth-graders who live less than two miles from their school and wants to ride the bus. Those in sixth grade or lower who travel longer distances are entitled to a free ride by state law.