Rural Iowa students could spend more than two and a half hours a day riding a school bus on under a contentious bill approved Tuesday by a divided Iowa Senate.

Senate File 2137 would allow a school board to extend the one-way riding time for an elementary student from 60 minutes currently to up to 75 minutes. However, individual school boards could extend the one-way time aboard a bus for an elementary or high school student beyond 75 minutes if the board holds two public hearings and notifies everyone involved.

Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, assailed the bill, saying it's an example of what happens when the Iowa Legislature doesn't provide enough money for public schools to keep up with normal cost increases. She rejected the idea that it's a appropriate belt-tightening measure to have children spending more than two hours daily riding a school bus.

Read the full article on the Des Moines Register website.