GRAND FORKS (AP) - Three public school districts in the state have no legal obligation to provide busing for students because they are not consolidated, the state's school finance director says.

State law provides free bus transportation to students in school districts that have reorganized to include other districts, widening the amount of territory they cover. Bismarck, Dickinson and Grand Forks are considered original districts and are allowed to charge for busing costs, said Tom Decker, the state school finance director.

"The courts have said that transportation is not a necessary part of a free public education," Decker said.

In Grand Forks, high school students who attend public school either must find a ride, drive or use the city bus.

"The minute they hit ninth grade, boom. There's no more service," said Colleen Welch, who wants to send her daughter, Maren, to Grand Forks Red River High School next year if she can find a way to pay for it.

Welch, who lives in Grand Forks but works in Warren, Minn., says she and her husband, John, leave for work too early in the morning to drive Maren to school and get home too late to pick her up.

City buses don't go directly to the school and are not a safe option for her daughter, she said. Red River is too far from their home for Maren to walk, and finding someone to give her a ride every day is nearly impossible with after-school activities, Welch said.

The Grand Forks School District provides transportation for special education students as required by law and to Grand Forks Air Force Base students as required under a joint-powers agreement with the base. Elementary and middle school students can use a pay-per-ride busing program subsidized by the district.

District officials say the limited bus routes save money, allowing more funds to be spent on classroom education.

"It's a huge expense," Perry Marto, district director of buildings and grounds said of district-financed busing for all students. "The cost for that would have to be put back to the taxpayers."

Marto estimated the district would need about 20 buses, at about $120,000 each, to start a bus service. The district also would have to buy land and build a structure to house the buses, he said.

Welch said she's tired of the school district's attitude.

"You want an education, you bring the kids. Basically, that's (the school district's) attitude," she said. "I would like to believe that education would be made available to all students, not just those who can get to school."

School Board member Tim Lamb, who has been on the board for eight years, said most parents and students seem content with the transportation in the district.

"For the life of me, I just can't even remember hearing a complaint," Lamb said. "We've got a really wonderful system with the city bus line. Beyond that, a lot of parents just give their kids a ride to school or car pool."