As word spreads of a dropping of bus service to Folsom high-school campuses this fall, families in the budget-strapped Folsom-Cordova Unified School District are wondering how they'll cope.

However, the district governing board Aug.7 will discuss the topic further. Superintendent Patrick Godwin said he is optimistic the district could substantially reverse the bus-cutting decision.

According to district officials, fuel costs are prohibitive for buses, which can average little better than seven miles per gallon. They burn diesel, which costs nearly $5 a gallon these days. The buses currently represent a budget shortfall of around $58,000, so officials would have to cut elsewhere to keep bus service, and that's not a done deal.

Resident Terry Liggett said a combination of likely great numbers of cars and a changed traffic pattern would pose a safety problem near Folsom High School.

"As a concerned parent, I'm worried about the changed traffic patterns at Grover and Iron Point," Liggett said. "It's going to be only right turns, and that will be chaos, especially the first week. Grover is used by a myriad of walking students."

She said she was puzzled by receiving paperwork on obtaining district school-bus service for her child this fall.

"They sent it out in a registration packet," Liggett said. "It's a form you fill out if a student wants to ride the bus. It says where you can send a check."

Godwin said a draft plan to save money elsewhere than on busing will go before the board Aug. 7.

"People are welcome to come," he said. "We anticipate the board will be in favor of it."

Also a parent of a Folsom High student, resident Kindra Miller noted her family lives in the Empire Ranch neighborhood, around eight miles from the campus, and that bus service had been a good fit. Walking and even bicycling aren't easy options for students in that neighborhood, she said.

Even the city's liberal array of cross-town bike trails doesn't help in cutting cycling distance from southeast Folsom to campus, she noted.

"My son is in special ed -- I'll have to go back and ask the district for 'door-to-door' status, even though he's been successfully riding the bus," Miller said.