The Davis School District must ensure that students in Farmington and Centerville get to school safely, and it shouldn't expect someone else to pick up the tab, a state official said.
"We get a little tired of taking care of school problems when they get most of the tax money," Utah Transportation Commissioner Todd Weston said Friday.Weston and other commissioners vowed to figure out how to collect $181,250 for sidewalks and sidewalk improvements in Farmington and Centerville so children in those towns won't be so close to traffic when they walk to school.
City officials asked the commission for emergency funds to make temporary upgrades to State Road 106, which runs from Farmington to Centerville.
That's the route that as many as 250 children now must walk to get to Reading Elementary School in Centerville, said Centerville Mayor Priscilla Todd.
The problem is that the highway is narrow in many spots and doesn't have adequate shoulders on which children can walk, Farmington Mayor Greg Bell said.
The students used to be bused to Reading, but that ended this year when the Davis district decided it no longer could afford to bus children living within two miles.