By MONICA RHOR

Associated Press

HOUSTON -- As a mother of two, Feleccia Moore-Davis is accustomed to the usual back-to-school swirl of new supplies, new clothes and new routines. But this year, that final flurry of summer is accompanied by an unusual worry.

Moore-Davis does not yet know how her children will get to school.

Last month, the financially pressed Houston-area school district her two daughters attend decided to end bus service for students living within two miles of schools.

Now Moore-Davis is contemplating the bustling intersections and streets without sidewalks the girls would have to navigate if they walked to school, and wondering whether her own work schedule can be reconfigured for drop-offs and pickups.

It is a dilemma facing thousands of parents across the country, as cash-strapped school districts from California to Florida have cut bus routes to chip away at spending.

About 23 percent of school districts surveyed by the American Association of School Administrators say they are reducing or eliminating school transportation for the coming school year as part of cost-cutting measures. That's up from the 14 percent who considered such measures during the 2008-2009 year.

"I've seen it happening in Massachusetts, in Ohio, in Indiana. A lot of school districts are looking at in varying degrees," said Robin Leeds, industry specialist with the National School Transportation Association.

Parents and transportation advocates say the proposed cuts will have wide-ranging repercussions -- affecting everything from parents' work schedules to student attendance. Many also worry that the cuts will jeopardize the safety of students who may have to cross busy highways or dangerous roads to get to class.

Deadly school bus crashes are rare, while past studies have shown riding to school in a car, walking and bicycling account for hundreds of student deaths a year.

For their part, school districts say trimming student transportation is a painful but necessary way of coping with reductions in state funding and a drop in property tax revenue.