"We were holding out hope that this wouldn't come to fruition, but here we are," Baldi Middle School Principal Bianca Gillis told Action News on Tuesday.
Gillis said about 60% of the school's 1,600 students rely on SEPTA charter buses to travel from four elementary feeder schools. "They bring children from those neighborhoods to us because we're not next to them at all," she explained.
Those charter buses are among the services set to be eliminated starting Sunday.
Without them, Gillis said the shortest walk to school for some students will be about 40 minutes. She's working with families to navigate alternate SEPTA routes but fears confusion could lead to increased lateness and absenteeism.
Autumn Fingerhood, whose daughter previously relied on the charter buses at Baldi and is now entering her sophomore year of high school, expressed concern during a rally outside Republican State Sen. Joe Picozzi's office.
MORE | SEPTA urges riders to start planning now for upcoming service cuts that begin on Aug. 24
SEPTA urges riders to start planning now for upcoming service cuts
"My daughter should not have to worry about seeing her mother stressed out, contemplating what I'm going to do. Should I go to work? How am I going to get my daughter to school?" Fingerhood said.
Transit advocates and union leaders joined the rally, urging Picozzi to support a transit funding package.
"We need the Pennsylvania Senate to do their job so we can go to ours," said Stephen Bronskill of Transit Forward Philly.
"While politicians are playing this political game of chess, their constituents are being used as pawns," added Daisy Cruz of SEIU 32BJ.
RELATED | Protesters stage sit-in at Republican state Senator's office as SEPTA cuts loom
Protesters stage sit-in at state Senator's office as SEPTA cuts loom
A group of Picozzi's supporters also rallied outside his office as he addressed the ongoing state budget stalemate.
"Both parties need to come together. The House and the Senate need to come together," Picozzi said.
The state has been operating without a new budget for nearly 50 days. Without additional funding, SEPTA says it will begin implementing 20% service cuts on Sunday, followed by a 21.5% fare increase on Sept. 1.
Picozzi pointed to legislation passed by the Senate last week that would tap into Pennsylvania's transportation fund to support public transit agencies like SEPTA.
"I've been having a lot of conversations looking at our proposal. What are some of the things people reacted to? What are some of the objections people in our caucus have?" he said.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers, including State Rep. Jordan Harris, say the Senate's proposal is a non-starter and argue that previous bipartisan bills passed in the House could have offered a solution.
"The versions of mass transit funding that we passed out of the House were bipartisan - Democrats and Republicans," Harris said.
The City of Philadelphia says it will monitor rush hour traffic and is prepared to deploy additional resources as needed once the cuts take effect.
You can learn more about the planned cuts at SEPTA.org