Student Transportation. The state's program of basic education includes transportation for some students to and from school, including transportation to learning centers and special education services. Students are eligible for transportation if they live beyond a one-mile walk area from the school or have a qualifying disability.
Transportation Allocations. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) calculates each school district's transportation allocation using the Student Transportation Allocation Reporting System (STARS). The STARS model uses a regression analysis of student ridership numbers and district characteristics to calculate an allocation amount, which is adjusted for certain qualifying factors. This STARS allocation amount is then compared to the district's transportation expenditures from the prior year. The school district receives the lesser of the two calculated amounts, plus salary and benefit allocations as appropriated by the Legislature.
The McKinney-Vento Act. The McKinney-Vento Act is designed to address the challenges homeless children and youths have faced in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school. Under the McKinney-Vento Act, homeless children are entitled to receive transportation comparable to what is available to non-homeless students. State and local education agencies must adopt policies and practices to ensure transportation is provided, upon request, to or from a student's school of origin. If a student remains at their school of origin but begins living in an area served by another local education agency, the two local education agencies must agree upon a method to apportion the responsibility and cost of transportation, or share the costs equally.
Under the McKinney-Vento Act, homeless children are defined as individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.
A definition for distinct passenger categories is added and includes the following:
The definition of to and from school for purposes of pupil transportation is modified to include the distinct passenger categories.
Beginning in the 2022-23 school year, each school district must submit a monthly report to OSPI that includes the actual costs and miles of transporting students in distinct passenger categories. OSPI must use the data submitted from the 2022-23 school year to determine the allocation model for the 2023-24 school year, and must adopt accounting and reporting rules as necessary.
Beginning in the 2023-24 school year, OSPI must reimburse school districts on a monthly basis for 100 percent of the costs to transport students in distinct passenger categories. These reimbursed services must be excluded from the general transportation allocation calculation for all other pupil transportation services. School districts must submit claims for reimbursement monthly on a schedule determined by OSPI consistent with methods used to reimburse school districts for categorical programs. If any school district's reimbursement of costs exceeds 105 percent of the average per-pupil reimbursement amount in similarly geographically sized school districts, the state auditor must review the transportation costs to ensure they are reasonable costs attributable to transporting students in distinct passenger categories. OSPI must adopt rules to categorize school districts of similar geographic size and notify the state auditor when a review is required.
By January 1, 2025, OSPI must provide an analysis of school district transportation costs and allocations to the education and fiscal committees of the Legislature. This analysis must include the mileage, ridership, and costs for each district, disaggregated by the following groups:
The Legislature intends to use this data to inform its future discussions on revising the overall student transportation allocation model to a more transparent and predictable funding model.
PRO: The transportation formula doesn't work well for most school districts. It is not predictable, transparent, or adequately resourced. Since there is not yet a new formula, one of the things the Legislature can do is reimburse the costs to transport these three groups of students. This bill addresses the needs of unique populations that often require special transportation at a significant cost. Transporting one or two students at a time makes the individual cost much larger than a bus that can transport multiple students. When these services are covered by local levies it puts an extra burden on these communities. Providing transportation is one of the most important tools to achieve equity, so this bill is foundational and a responsible use of state resources.
The committee recommended a different version of the bill than what was heard. PRO: The biggest issues facing K-12 is the broken STARS model. This bill is an important first step in beginning to address the issue. Transportation is not appropriately funded and the bill funds routes for the most vulnerable students. A foundational part of basic education is getting kids to school. In 20 years of work with school district, the transportation program has never been fully funded. This will help begin fixing the STARS model. Having stability for students is very important and districts have had to utilize local funding for transportation. The current transportation funding model needs to be streamlined. There previously has not been a mechanism to address the specific needs of special riders.