Fairfax County students who typically ride the bus, may be walking to school, according to the Washington Post.

In effort to reduce childhood obesity, reduce transporation costs and ease traffic, school officials want to encourage more students to walk or bike to school.

The idea is fondly supported because the cost of putting a school bus on the road is equal to keeping a teacher on staff. This small change could greatly impact the strength of schools and health of the students.

As for homeowners, it is a win-win situation because any improvement in the school system positively affects home values, and less buses on the roads could improve traffic conditions.

"Almost everyone has a grandparent who claims to have walked two miles to school every morning. Uphill. In the snow. Etc.

In Fairfax County, it could soon be your 12-year-old trudging to school.

Hard times have a way of making old ideas seem new. With nothing but grim budgets ahead, some members of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors want the county's schools to save money on buses by encouraging more kids to walk to school, perhaps by moving back the boundaries for bus-riding eligibility.

It's an idea that has received more attention nationwide in recent years as a way to fight child obesity, reduce air pollution and ease traffic. It became especially popular when diesel fuel prices climbed to $4 a gallon a year ago, and it's popular now as governments struggle through the worst recession in generations.

The cost of putting a school bus on the street is approximately equal to keeping a teacher on staff, said Linda P. Farbry, director of transportation for Fairfax public schools.

It also doesn't hurt that the campaign -- especially the 'Walking School Bus' that encourages parents to coordinate neighborhood routes, wear safety vests and share escort duty -- fits with the baby boomer habit of reviving childhood practices. An oft-quoted study found that in 1969, 41 percent of students walked or bicycled to school. By 2001, that figure had dropped to 13 percent."

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