A proposal to increase public school bus fares by more than $100 a year is dead, at least for now, after a state Board of Education committee yesterday could not muster enough votes to advance the proposal.

The Administrative Services Committee voted 4-4 on the proposal, meaning the measure failed to move on to the full board for consideration. It was not known yesterday if the Department of Education would try to revive the measure.

Under the proposal, a one-way bus trip would have increased from 35 cents to 75 cents and an annual fare would jump from $119.60 to $225. The increase was proposed to help the DOE deal with a $227 million cut from its annual $1.8 billion budget.

The DOE currently pays for about 93 percent of the cost of operating the school bus system. It costs the state about $45 million to run the system statewide, but the DOE collects only abut $3 million.

The fare increase was expected to generate another $3 million in revenues.

Board members who voted against the proposal said they were concerned about the effect the higher fares would have on families.

The school bus system serves about 40,000 pupils, or about one-fourth of public school students.

Only about 60 percent of the 40,000 school bus riders pay for their fares. That's because students receiving free meals under the federal lunch program also receive a free bus pass from the state. Students with special needs, whose Individual Education Plans call for door-to-door bus services or who cannot ride a regular bus, also receive free transportation from the state.

The DOE estimates that the cost to operate the bus system will increase by about 15 percent over the next year.