(A) Authority - Pupil transportation
operation payment amount for each school district shall be determined as
prescribed by the general assembly in section 3306.12 of the Revised
Code.
(B) Eligibility - Payment for pupil
transportation operation shall be made to all city, exempted village, and local
school districts eligible for school foundation funding as provided for by
Chapter 3306. of the Revised Code.
(C)
(A) Formula for calculation of regular education
payment amounts.
(1) Type I (board-owned and
operated school buses):
(a) Funding shall be
computed and distributed as specified in section
3306.12
3317.0212
of the Revised
Code.
(b) Qualifying
riders
ridership shall be defined as the average daily number
of
enrolled pupils actually
qualifying riders who are provided school bus
service
riding pursuant to
division (A) of section
3317.0212 of the Revised
Code.
paragraph (E)(1) of this
rule.
(2) Type
II (contractor-owned and operated school buses):
(a) Funding shall be computed and distributed
as specified in section
3317.0212
3306.12 of the Revised Code.
(b) Qualifying
riders
ridership shall
be defined as the average daily number of
enrolled
pupils actually riding
qualifying riders who
are provided school bus service
a bus
pursuant to
division (A) of section
3317.0212 of the Revised
Code.
paragraph (E)(1) of this
rule.
(3) Other
types of transportation service: In accordance with division
(F)
(K) of
section
3317.0212
3306.12 of the Revised Code, payment shall be made
to each district for transportation service provided for students on other than
board-owned or contractor
- operated buses. This
payment shall apply only to eligible students that use transportation services,
as reported on the T-1 and T-2 reports submitted to the
Ohio department
of
education.
(a) Type III (public
utility) - An amount per pupil equal to thirty-five per cent of the state
average cost as calculated in division (C) of section
3317.0212
3306.12 of the Revised Code.
(b) Type IV (payment in lieu of
transportation) - An amount per pupil equal to thirty-five per cent of the
state average cost as calculated in division (C) of section 3306.12 of the
Revised Code.
(c)
(b) Type V
(board-owned vehicles other than school buses) - An amount per pupil equal to
fifty per cent of the state average cost as calculated in division (C) of
section
3317.0212
3306.12 of the Revised Code.
(d)
(c)
Type VI (privately-owned vehicles other than school buses) - An amount per
pupil equal to fifty per cent of the state average cost as calculated in
division (C) of section
3317.0212
3306.12 of the Revised Code.
(4) Payment for extra service miles
for regular education children run on days public school is not in session may
be made for types I, II, V, and VI. Payment shall be calculated by multiplying
the extra miles by an amount per mile equal to thirty five per cent of the
state average cost as calculated in division (D) of section 3306.12 of the
Revised Code.
(D)
(B) Reimbursement for
special education transportation.
(1)
Reimbursement for special transportation may be approved by the
department's
department
office of pupil
transportation for children with disabilities attending a special
education program approved by the department's office
of
for
exceptional children and/or attending a regular class in a public school, and
who have transportation appropriately identified as a related service on their
individual education
plan plans.
(2) For eligible children with disabilities,
the department shall calculate reimbursement as follows:
(a) Base amount equals the actual cost of
special transportation up to six dollars per instructional day per child and
one-half the actual cost in excess of six dollars per day.
(b) Base shall be adjusted
according to the school district's state share index,
or the minimum state share index established in section
3317.0212 of the Revised Code,
whichever is larger based upon current language in the respective biennium
budget that addresses such percentages
by the
greater of sixty per cent or the district state share
percentage.
(c) Formula
amount for each district shall be limited by the actual reported cost of
special education transportation, and shall also be limited to no more than
two-hundred per cent of the statewide average cost of transportation per
child.
(d) Final amount as
determined in paragraph
(B)
(D)(2)(c) of this rule shall be prorated as
necessary to remain within the budgeted allocation for special education
transportation.
(3) All
vehicles used must be authorized vehicles as defined in rule
3301-83-19
of the Administrative Code. A privately owned vehicle utilized to transport a
pupil of the family is not subject to regulation other than that required by
state law.
(4) Eligible children
with disabilities who ride on regular school buses on regular routes are not
eligible for special education transportation reimbursement. They are to be
counted and reported on the department's T-1 and T-2 forms as regular education
riders; except that if fifty per cent or more of the passengers on a route are
children with disabilities, the cost can be prorated and reported to the
department for reimbursement.
(5)
Reimbursement claims for transportation of children with disabilities shall be
reported on the appropriate form as required by the
department
department's
center for school finance.
(E)
(C) Reporting and
annual adjustments
(1) Each school district
shall file annual reports of all pupils transported, miles traveled, actual
costs, and other necessary information for the purposes of calculation and
adjustments in amount due. Pupils transported and miles traveled shall be
reported by vehicle as the average daily number of eligible pupils actually
transported and miles traveled during the first full week of October that
school is in session. Actual cost shall be reported by vehicle on or before the
last
first day
of August following the close of the fiscal year.
(2) All adjustments by transportation service
type shall be made within the first quarter following the close of the fiscal
year.
(F)
(D) Vehicles approved for use and operational payment
(1) Board-owned and operated school buses - A
vehicle operated by a qualified driver meeting the definition of a school bus
successfully passing the annual state highway patrol safety inspection assigned
a school bus identification number and painted national school bus chrome with
proper black lettering. Vehicle met or exceeded Ohio school bus minimum
standards at the time of construction.
(2) Contractor-owned school buses - A vehicle
meeting all the requirements of a board-owned school bus and requirement of
licensing by the Ohio department of highway safety and bonding as required by
law.
(3) Public transit vehicles -
Vehicles owned and operated by regional transit authorities, community transit
authorities, or privately owned, or taxis, under contract with a board of
education and operated on routes designed for the purpose of transporting
fare-paying passengers and eligible students simultaneously.
(4) Board-owned vehicles other than school
buses - A vehicle, nine-passenger or less, not including driver, with no school
bus identification other than school district name.
(5) Privately owned vehicles other than
school buses used in compliance with rule
3301-83-19
of the Administrative Code.
(6)
Privately owned vehicles may include ambulances and/or taxicabs for the purpose
of transporting eligible children with disabilities.
(G)
(E)
Operational regulations
(1)
To receive funding for a pupil being transported, the
pupil must meet the following criteria:
Only
pupils eligible for payment may be included in the counts as reported in
paragraph (E)(1) of this rule. An "eligible pupil" must meet the following
criteria:
(a) Is one whose place of
residence is one mile or more from the school of assignment for public school
pupils and school of attendance in case of nonpublic
and community school pupils when measured in the
following manner: "Measurement of distance originates at a point on the
traveled portion of the roadway nearest the primary entrance to the place of
residence and then along the most direct route traversable excluding interstate
routes by motor vehicle to the school bus loading area nearest and opposite the
entrance door used by pupils transported"; and
(b) Is transported from an approved pick-up
point near the residence, to a school of assignment in the case of public
school pupils, and to the school of attendance in the case of nonpublic school
pupils and who is returned from the school of assignment or attendance to the
designated pick-up point; and
(c)
Is enrolled in grades kindergarten through twelve and regularly transported to
and from a public school; or
(d) Is
enrolled in grades kindergarten through twelve and regularly transported to and
from a nonpublic school chartered by the state board of education and eligible
for transportation service
; or
.
(e)
Is enrolled in
grades kindergarten through twelve and regularly transported to and from a
community school that assumed responsibility for arranging or providing pupil
transportation in accordance with section
3314.091 of the Revised
Code.
(2)
Nonresident non-open enrollment pupils regularly
transported may be reported for payment purposes only when such pupils are
released by the district of residence.
Miles traveled to transport eligible pupils participating in an
open enrollment program may be reported for payment purposes by the resident
district from home to the designated border pick-up point and by the educating
school district from the border pick-up point to the building of attendance in
the educating district. If the educating district or the resident district
provides all the open enrollment transportation for a student, the miles may be
reported by the district providing the service.
(3) Miles traveled from bus storage location
or school building to first student pick-up, all route miles, and return to
storage both a.m. and p.m., including kindergarten miles, are approved for
payment purposes.
(4) Miles
traveled to and from storage locations outside the county or counties of the
school district location are not approved miles for payment purposes. Miles
traveled from county line to first pick-up and return to county line are
approved miles.
(5) Total annual
miles for payment purposes shall be calculated by multiplying total daily miles
by one hundred eighty days.
(6)
Recalculation of pupil transportation operation payment amount due may be
approved when:
(a) Local board policy or
routing is revised to provide transportation service for additional pupils or
increased miles on or before the first of February, and providing such change
in policy is to continue in effect for the remainder of the school year
; or
.
(b) A nonpublic school is chartered for
operation subsequent to the initial reporting period
;
or
.
(c) School district erroneously reports or
the
Ohio
department
of education errs in actual
calculation of amount due.
(7) School districts contracting with transit
authorities for the purpose of transporting eligible pupils to and from school
shall require the transit authority director to file with the board of
education actual operational costs in excess of, or less than, reimbursement as
provided for by paragraph
(A)
(C)(3) of this rule. Such report shall be filed
with the board of education at the close of each fiscal year. Each board of
education shall file with the
Ohio
department
of education all transit
authority and local board costs on or before the twentieth day of July of each
year.
(8) Type IV, payment to parent or
guardian in lieu of transportation service for eligible pupils whose
transportation is deemed impractical by school conveyance, must be declared as
being impractical by board of education resolution. Payment under this type
will not be made for pupils who live within two miles of their school of
attendance.
Post-secondary transportation shall
be reported as type IV when pupils are eligible for such reimbursement under
law and any rules adopted by the state board of education.
(9) For payment purposes, all school
districts providing transportation service to nonpublic or vocational schools
on days public schools are not in session and shuttle service to joint
vocational schools may report on forms provided by the Ohio department of
education such additional miles.
Notes
Ohio Admin. Code
3301-83-01
Effective:
5/13/2019
Five Year Review (FYR) Dates:
2/6/2019 and
04/25/2024
Promulgated
Under: 119.03
Statutory
Authority: 4511.76,
3301.07
Rule
Amplifies: 4511.76
Prior
Effective Dates: 11/01/1975, 12/28/1977, 12/28/1979, 03/22/1982, 04/01/1984,
05/01/1986, 04/01/1988, 05/01/1992, 05/06/1994, 10/01/2004, 05/19/2006,
02/25/2007, 03/25/2010