It had been a while since I heard anything from lawmakers about what they plan to do about student transportation, so I checked in with Senate Education Chairwoman Jill Tokuda this morning.

“We’re not at the end of the road for discussions,” she said. “It will be up to the Senate to take a look at it when the budget bill goes into conference.”

Last year, the Legislature threatened to cut regular student transportation funding down to zero unless the Department of Education came up with a plan for reducing school bus costs. Now that education officials have offered some suggestions, though, lawmakers are struggling with whether to accept them. (Read all about it in our Taken for a Ride series.)

“It will be really interesting to see how that plays out,” Tokuda said. “It’s a very difficult decision we have in front of us. There are a lot of needs related to bus transportation services, but it’s a very costly item that’s been continually increasing. So how do you rein that cost in without negatively impacting families?”