Malden cuts all school buses

Kind of a big deal:

Yellow school buses, as much a staple of elementary school as backpacks, blackboards and lunch boxes, will roll no more in Malden, after city officials made the unusual decision to completely eliminate bus service for most families. 

City officials said the cancellation was a painful but necessary step to help the School Department, which was facing a $2.5 million budget gap, save $400,000. 

The decision, which affects about 120 of Malden’s 6,500 students, has sent parents scrambling to make other arrangements to get their children to school.

It's worth noting that some of the concern from parents is when the district let them know, which was the end of July (why the article now?).

Here's what I find odd: "all buses" is 120 kids out of 6500. That's like two or three busloads of kids. So mostly school choice kids? Maybe?