Bills › 90th General Assembly
Relating to the transportation to and from school of pupils participating in open enrollment
Sponsored by the House Education (successor To Hf 41) Committee
Topics:K–12 education
Where it is now
- Done: IntroducedJanuary 10, 2023
- Done: SubcommitteeJanuary 17, 2023
- Done: House committeeJanuary 24, 2023
- Done: Passes the HouseFebruary 28, 202492–3
- Done: Senate committeeMarch 14, 2024
- Done: Passes the SenateApril 2, 202449–0
- Done: To the GovernorApril 23, 2024
- Done: Signed into lawMay 1, 2024
Signed into law What’s a funnel?
What’s in it
AI summary Small school districts would no longer need permission from another district to pick up students who have moved to their schools through open enrollment. If a receiving school has fewer than 2,000 students, they can send buses up to two miles into a student's home district if the student lives closer to the new school than their old one. Larger districts can send buses even further into a neighboring district if that district is small and already shares bus services with them.1
Read the official explanation
This bill relates to the transportation to and from school of pupils participating in open enrollment. Current law authorizes a receiving school district to send school vehicles into the district of residence of a pupil who open enrolls, for the purpose of transporting the pupil to and from school in the receiving school district, if the boards of directors of the sending school district and receiving school district agree to this arrangement. The bill strikes the requirement that the boards of directors of the sending school district and receiving school district agree to the arrangement. The bill provides that a receiving district with a total enrollment of less than 2,000 students may send school vehicles not more than two miles into the district of residence of the pupil who open enrolls, for the purpose of transporting the pupil to and from school in the receiving district, if the pupil’s primary residence is closer to the attendance center the pupil attends in the receiving district than the residence is to the attendance center the pupil would be assigned in the sending district. The bill also provides that a receiving district with a total enrollment of at least 2,000 students may send school vehicles two miles or more into the district of residence of the pupil who open enrolls, regardless of the distance between the pupil’s primary residence and the attendance center the pupil attends in the receiving district or the attendance center the pupil would be assigned in the sending district, if the total enrollment of the pupil’s district of residence is less than two thousand students, the pupil’s district of residence is contiguous to the receiving district, and the pupil’s district of residence has sent school vehicles into the receiving district.
Changed since by amendments S-5085, H-8051; see Amendments.
Senate subcommittee
Named March 4, 2024. On March 6, 2024 it recommended amendment and passage. [].
Three legislators hear a bill first and recommend what the committee should do; it’s the best time to weigh in. How to take part
13 written public comments to its subcommittee: February 9, 2023 (3), January 24, 2023 (10) · on the Legislature’s site
Fiscal note
Can’t be estimated Compare with other bills
AI summary This bill sets new standards for transporting students who open enroll in different school districts and removes the requirement for school boards to agree on transportation arrangements. There is no fiscal impact to the state, but the cost to school districts may vary and cannot be determined. Any costs incurred by school districts would be voluntary, as they are not required to provide this transportation.3
Read the fiscal note
Description
House File 2278 establishes new standards for the transportation of students between districts based on the size of the districts, contiguity, and proximity of pupils to their respective attendance centers in the districts where they are open enrolling. The Bill removes the requirement that the school boards of the resident and receiving school district agree to the arrangement. The school boards may form agreements allowing a receiving school district to transport students irrespective of the established standards. The Bill additionally provides that resident school districts shall not be responsible for paying transportation costs to parents or guardians if the receiving school district provides transportation for the student to and from school.
Background
Current law authorizes a receiving school district to send school vehicles into the district of residence of a student who open enrolls and to transport the student to and from school in the receiving school district. However, districts are not required to transport students who do not reside in the district. A district may transport a nonresident student, but if it does, the district must charge that student’s parent a fee under Iowa Code section 285.1 unless the open-enrolled student is entitled to transportation. The fee is determined by the average actual cost for all the children transported in all school buses in the district. Open-enrolled students are entitled to transportation only if they fall below certain income thresholds. Those students’ resident districts are required to provide transportation and have three options for providing that transportation:
- Provide bus transportation to the receiving school district.
- Allow buses from the receiving school district to enter the resident district’s lines to pick up the student.
- Provide reimbursement based on the formula in Iowa Code section 285.1. Approximately 39,000 Iowa students were open enrolled when certified enrollments were determined on October 1, 2022, for the 2022-2023 school year. Each of the 327 school districts in the State reported at least one student served through an open-enrollment arrangement.
Assumptions
- The statewide average cost of transporting a student is $669 for the 2023-2024 school year.
- It is unknown how many students wish to receive transportation services from the school district into which they have open enrolled but have been denied by their resident school district.
Fiscal Impact
There is no fiscal impact to the State.
There may be a fiscal impact to school districts that choose to provide transportation to students who open enroll. This cost cannot be determined since it would vary across school districts and specific student situations. Additionally, the cost would be voluntarily incurred by school districts since they are not required to provide the transportation. Those school districts could be reimbursed for at least part of the transportation cost by fees paid by the parents of the students.
Sources
- Department of Education
- Legislative Services Agency
- Final Fiscal Note — School Bus Open Enrollment · May 1, 2024
- School Bus Open Enrollment · April 3, 2024
- School Bus Open Enrollment · March 1, 2024
- School Bus Open Enrollment · February 22, 2024
- School Bus Open Enrollment · January 31, 2023
Family tree
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