Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 3, September 1, 2024
RELATES TO:
KRS
157.370
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY:
KRS
157.370(8) requires a local
board of education to be reimbursed separately for the cost of transporting
pupils from a parent school to a vocational-technical school or to a vocational
education center, and requires the Board of Education to promulgate an
administrative regulation establishing the reimbursement amount. This
administrative regulation establishes the reimbursement requirements and
limitations for those districts that transport secondary school pupils.
Section 1. Definition. "Vocational school"
means a state vocational-technical school, an area vocational education center,
or a vocational training site.
Section
2. A local district may provide bus transportation for the
district's secondary school pupils from their parent school to a vocational
school where an integral part of the basic vocational instructional program is
being provided.
Section 3. A
district providing transportation to a vocational school shall submit a request
for reimbursement by submitting a completed Form VT-2, District's Annual Claim
to Receive Reimbursement for Pupil Transportation Vocational Schools, annually
on or before June 30 of the current school year to the Office of District
Support Services in the Department of Education.
Section 4. Funding in the current year shall
be based upon information submitted on district applications based on the
actual transportation provided.
Section
5. A local district that transports pupils to a vocational school
on buses owned and operated by the district shall be reimbursed for these
expenditures as follows:
(1) Bus mileage at a
rate not to exceed the average cost per bus mile for county school districts,
exclusive of driver's cost, as calculated by the Office of District Support
Services for the previous school year; and
(2) The vocational school bus driver's cost
at an hourly rate not to exceed the hourly rate paid by the district to a
driver in the district's regular transportation program with similar
qualifications.
Section
6. If a district's pupils are transported to a vocational school
over a toll road as the nearest or best route, either on a board-owned bus or a
bus contracted to the board, the district shall be reimbursed for the toll road
fee in addition to mileage and driver's cost.
Section 7.
(1) A district that contracts for the
transportation of its pupils to a vocational school shall be reimbursed an
amount not to exceed the total amount that would result if:
(a) The vocational school bus mileage is
multiplied by the average cost per bus mile for county districts exclusive of
driver's cost; and
(b) The driver's
total hours are multiplied by the average hourly rate paid by county school
districts plus necessary toll road fees.
(2) The average mileage cost and average
hourly rate shall be those calculated by the Office of District Support
Services for the previous school year.
Section 8.
(1) Bus mileage shall be calculated from the
parent school to the vocational school over the nearest and best route. If the
same bus is used to transport pupils to a vocational school from more than one
(1) school within the same district, bus mileage shall be calculated from the
school located farthest from the vocational school over the nearest and best
route as the bus serves the other schools en route to the vocational
school.
(2) A bus round trip shall
be considered the transportation of the student to and from a vocational
school.
(a) A bus driver transporting
students on a bus from a high school to a vocational school and returning back
without the students to the high school shall be considered to have made half
of a round trip.
(b) A bus driver
departing from the high school without the students, going to the vocational
school and returning back to the high school with the students shall be
considered to have made half of a round trip.
Section 9.
(1) The total hours of a driver's pay per day
that shall be reimbursed for transporting pupils to a vocational school shall
be calculated on the basis of what the driver does while the pupils are in
class at the vocational school as follows:
(a) If the driver waits at the vocational
school for the full time that the pupils are in class, the driver's time shall
start when the bus leaves the parent school farthest from which pupils are
transported to the vocational school and shall stop when the pupils are
returned to the farthest parent school; or
(b) If the driver unloads the pupils at the
vocational school, then takes the bus to another location and returns to pick
up the pupils when the classes are finished, the first half of the drivers time
shall start when the bus leaves the parent school farthest from the vocational
school and shall end when the driver reaches the point where the bus is parked
until time to make the bus trip to the vocational school to return the pupils
to their parent school. The second half of the driver's time shall start when
the bus leaves the point where the bus was parked and shall end when the bus
reaches the parent school farthest from the vocational school.
(2) The district shall pay the bus
driver by the method that results in the least cost when the driver's time and
the required bus mileage are considered in combination.
Section 10. The driver of the bus that
transports pupils to a vocational school shall meet the same requirements as
the district's bus drivers that transport pupils to the district's public
schools.
Section 11. A school
district shall be reimbursed for the cost of vocational school transportation
for the actual number of days that pupils were transported to the vocational
school not to exceed the number of instructional days in the school district's
approved amended calendar.
Section
12.
(1) One (1) district may make
a contract with another district to transport the other district's pupils to a
vocational school on the same bus with the transporting district's pupils or on
a separate bus.
(2) If one (1)
district contracts to provide a bus or buses to transport another district's
pupils to a vocational school, the district providing the bus or buses shall
claim additional reimbursement only for the extra bus miles required and the
extra hours of bus driver time required to provide this service for the other
district.
Section 13. A
district shall make maximum use of the bus that transports pupils to a
vocational school through planning and routing. The use of more than one (1)
bus for transporting pupils from any school or group of schools to a vocational
school shall be approved only if the length of time required for one (1) bus to
pick up and transport the pupils would be impractical or the number of pupils
on one (1) bus would exceed seating capacity.
Section 14. A district shall not be
reimbursed for:
(1) The transportation of
vocational school pupils on field trips, excursions, competitions, or
recreational trips; or
(2) The
vocational transportation from the parent school to the vocational school if
the vocational school is on the same grounds or on adjacent grounds to the
parent school or within one-half (1/2) mile of the parent school.
Section 15. Incorporation by
Reference.
(1) "Form VT-2, District's Annual
Claim to Receive Reimbursement for Pupil Transportation Vocational Schools",
November 2010, is incorporated by reference.
(2) This material may be inspected, copied,
or obtained, subject to applicable copyright law, at the Office of District
Support Services, Department of Education, 15th Floor, Capitol Plaza Tower, 500
Mero Street, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. (SBE 76.200
STATUTORY AUTHORITY:
KRS
156.070,
157.370(8)
