BONSALL -- Trustees in the Bonsall Union School District voted to eliminate school bus transportation at the end of the current school year with a split decision to lay off eight bus drivers Tuesday night.

In the 3-2 decision, with trustees Tim Coen and Bob Turner opposed, the school board also voted to send layoff notices to several instructional aides by April 30, in accordance with state law.

The personnel cuts represent a savings of about $713,000, as the district struggles to cover an anticipated $900,000 shortfall in the fiscal year beginning July 1.

About 150 parents and classified employees packed into the Bonsall Community Center for the meeting, asking officials to reconsider ending the bus transportation system.

More than a dozen people spoke on the issue, which has drawn heated responses from parents who say school buses are the only way to get their children to school in the sprawling district.

"I realize you have to balance a budget," said Sarah Hoggan, a mother who has previously asked the board to reconsider. "Could we get a year -- a stay of execution, if you will? What will we have to cut next year if another shortfall comes?"

Ending school bus transportation is the largest of several cuts Bonsall officials are considering to cover the projected $900,000 deficit.

Educators calculated the shortfall after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed cutting about $4.4 billion from the state education budget in January to help cover an anticipated $16 billion statewide deficit for the 2008-09 fiscal year. A budget update is due in May.

The school district covers 88 square miles of hills and valleys with roads that often do not have shoulders or sidewalks. About 700 children ride school buses to the district's four campuses.

Bonsall was the second North County school district this week to consider ending bus transportation.

On Monday night, San Marcos Unified School District trustees voted 4-1 to cancel the bus system and lay off 27 full-time employees.

The San Marcos district is trying to cover a projected $9.1 million deficit, and officials said they hope to save $1.2 million by cutting the bus system, which serves about 2,700 children a day.

Along with the angry parents who spoke Tuesday night, classified employees from several other districts showed up in Bonsall to protest the idea of getting rid of the school buses.

"If you do away with busing around here, you are really endangering the students' lives … and doing a disservice to all the parents who put you into office," said Jim King, who works for the Ramona Unified School District.

Many parents said they didn't know how they would get their kids to school if school buses are out of the picture.

Cindy Wilson said she works 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Miramar, and sees no solution if the school buses stop running.

Wilson said her kids "would have to be walking up Old 395."

"Please keep our buses -- we need them," she said.

Roxanne Stanley, another Bonsall parent who spoke during the meeting, said she's concerned about speeding cars and child predators, among other things, if her child was to walk to school: "It's a safety issue," she said.

"I see an average of one accident a month where I live, on Camino del Rey," said Stanley.

Superintendent Jeff Felix has said eliminating school bus transportation appears to be the only way the district can balance its budget.

The district was going to get rid of the school bus system next year anyway, he has previously pointed out.

"This issue of transportation is a terrible one," Felix said during Tuesday's meeting, where he proposed overhauling one or more of the district's four campuses for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, instead of separating older and younger kids under the current setup.

Converting Bonsall West Elementary into a K-8 school would ease the commute of parents who now must drive their kids in grades six through eight to Sullivan Middle School, a 40-minute round trip, Felix said.

Twelve mothers of students at Bonsall West spoke in favor of the K-8 plan, but reactions were mixed among board members, who said the K-8 model may not work so well for Vivian Banks Charter School, which is in Pala.

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 740-3516 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.