In a major financial setback for the Buffalo Public Schools District, a State Supreme Court judge today ordered the district to pay a Town of Tonawanda charter school $6.8 million dollars for improperly ending its contracted bus service for students who live in the City of Buffalo.
The Charter School for Applied Technologies had sued the district for $9.5 million, alleging the district’s transportation policy, instituted in 2009, eliminated bus service for more than 1,000 students in grades K-thru-8.
Judge John Michalek says the ruling accounts for how much the charter school paid to contract for its own transportation services in the years since.
A lawyer representing the district says the award is excessive and the district will appeal.