This January 27, 2016 presentation give a good concise review of what is going on and needed in our schools and is well worth reading:  Testimony to State Legislature

In the closing portion of this presentation she reviews the need for Universal (Short Distance) Busing:

In addition, we respectfully request additional state help to address rising transportation costs. We would like to fund a pilot project beginning next year that would enable our district to provide universal transportation, which we believe will reduce transportation costs over time while supporting neighborhood schools.

Currently, the state pays 90 percent of transportation costs for students, but only if they travel more than 1.5 miles to school.  This policy provides an incentive for parents to enroll their children in schools outside their neighborhoods. During the current school year, only 17 percent of Rochester elementary-school students on average attend their neighborhood school. Only 14 percent on average attend the K-to-8 school in their neighborhood. If Rochester had flexibility to bus students less than 1.5 miles, more families would choose neighborhood schools.

The Rochester pilot project, being led by Deputy Superintendent for Administration Adele Bovard, would provide universal transportation to students in all of our district’s Rochester City School District January 27, 2016 8 elementary and K-to-8 schools next year. We would expand it to secondary schools in the following year, allowing every student to receive transportation to the school that is closest to home if they want it.

The pilot project would support the Safe Neighborhoods objective of the Rochester Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative. As the percentage of neighborhood students increases
in each school, routing patterns become more efficient and we believe that rising transportation costs will be reduced over time.  Our team is analyzing data now and will follow up with a formal funding request in the near future.  We would appreciate your support in our effort to make neighborhood schools the rule rather than the exception for most Rochester families.

This agrees with the discussion John Laing and I had with her at the Coffee & Conversation meeting on March 10th.  She was hoping to integrate hard data the district has been collecting from the universal busing they are currently doing at its own expense, into the prior studies they have previously submitted to Albany.  See:  RCSD: Neighborhood Schools Implementation Plan - February 2015