"Our transportation budget at AMES, including the leases for the buses and the Utah Transit Authority passes, is $230,000, and we get no state money for that," Church said.

The charter school's budget is $2.9 million, collected from the state's per-pupil funding formula.

At the Northern Utah Academy for Math, Engineering and Science, a charter high school in Layton, buses take students to and from school, as well as to lunch at Northridge High School in Layton. Students taking college classes use UTA passes to get to Weber State University or the Davis Applied Technology Center.

Students take district buses to their neighborhood high schools, then transfer onto NUAMES buses.

"Our kids come from North Salt Lake all the way out to Willard Bay," said Debbie Hefner, director of business operations. "Because it's a huge geographic region, it makes it so kids can get to our school at no cost to them."

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com