FIRST TAKE
Charging Fees to Keep School Bus Routes Alive Can Be a Thorny Issue
By Ryan Gray Te American School Bus Council recently un-
veiled some eye-opening information on student ridership nationwide. Based on surveys, only 18 states require regular route school bus transportation. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, mean-
while, are bound by federal law requiring school busing for students with disabilities who have the ser- vice outlined on their IEPs. In light of today’s economic environment, more states (and certainly local districts) are considering additional cuts to school bus transpor- tation or eliminating it altogether. Over the summer during the 17th School Trans-
portation News North American School Bus EXPO, presenter Mike Patton from the Capistrano Unified School District in Southern California showed how his district charges for school bus rides as an alternative to cutting the service and putting more kids in potential harm’s way. Te school bus was almost eliminated en- tirely at nearby Poway Unified School District before last-ditch efforts to get enough parents to sign up for a payment plan finally succeeded in mid-August. Tere could be a lot of hurdles for school districts
to first overcome before simply implementing a pay- for-rides policy, including parental buy-in. California also had a court battle to win, one that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, before it could set a maximum price for regular route transportation. As states and school districts consider the option of
charging parents for school bus rides as a way to stay out of the red, another recent survey of states shows that there could be laws or regulations in place that prohibit such revenue-raising efforts to begin with. Earlier this summer, Indiana State Attorney Gen-
eral Greg Zoeller issued a legal opinion that charging parents for school bus rides violates the state con- stitution because schools were never granted the authority by the state legislature to do so. Pete Baxter, who retired in July as the state’s director of student transportation at the Indiana Department of Educa- tion, said the issue came as a surprise to him when raised earlier this year by Franklin Township Commu- nity Schools, which was considering school bus fees as a way to reduce the transportation department’s encroachment on the overall school budget. Baxter’s response was one of only 27, as the survey
found that at least 14 states including Indiana specifi- cally prohibit any school district from charging parents
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bus fees for regular route transportation. Another 13 states indicated that nothing prohibits school districts from charging fees. Te issue seems to relate to if the state requires home-to-school transportation to begin with. But still, things are not cut and dry. Nevada received guidance from its attorney general in 1981 that a school district board of trustees does not have the authority to charge for transportation to and from school. Virginia school districts are only allowed to accept payment for field trips that are a part of school program or extracurricular activity trips that students are not required to attend or participate in. Meanwhile, in Michigan, state law requires that, if school districts provide transportation route service for their pupils, they must do so without charge. In Oregon, school districts are prohibited from charg-
ing parents when the student is eligible for regular route service. Similar to many states, bus ridership eligibility hinges on how far the student lives from school. Te minimum distance is one mile from school for elemen- tary students. Meanwhile, secondary school students who reside more than 1.5 miles from school are eligible for school busing and, according to State Director Ste- ven Huillet, exempt from paying. Other states weren’t sure how to answer the ques-
tion. Max Christensen, the state director of student transportation in Iowa, said fees can’t be charged beyond the two-mile limit for elementary and the three-mile limit for high school. “Under those limits, districts are allowed to charge
a fee, but over those limits, transportation is required by the district,” he added. Retired Wyoming State Director D. Leeds Pickering
said that there are limited times when a school dis- trict can charge but not when transporting a student who lives more than two miles from their campus. Louisiana is requesting its state attorney general’s
opinion on charging fees, according to Michael Co- burn, the director of school bus transportation at the Department of Education. Leon Langley at the Mary- land Department of Education said the state did not have any language one way or another on school bus fees. In Utah, State Director Murrell Martin said the department of education is presently exploring un- der what conditions school districts may be able to charge for transporting “ineligible” students to and from school. ■
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