Calling it a “step in the wrong direction,” Gov. Kelly Ayotte vetoed her first bill as governor, halting an effort to end the mandate that school districts provide transportation for students in half-day kindergarten programs.

If adopted, the proposal would allow school boards to decide on their own whether to pay the transportation costs for students.

State Rep. Keith Ammon, R-New Boston, said he authored the bill after learning his local district had spent $75,000 a year to bus a “very small number” of students.

“The local tradition in this district is that students were normally picked up from half-day kindergarten by parents, grandparents, or caregivers, and that this hadn’t been burdensome for most,” Ammon told the Senate Education Committed during a hearing on his bill ( HB 319

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