Eligibility for school transportation services includes 3 different components that should be considered. They are distance, grade level, and travel time.
As long as you are careful and deliberate about assessing each of these components, you will have a level playing field to move forward. Not unlike a three-legged stool, if you miss one of the components, the stool is no longer stable and disaster awaits.
Distance is perhaps the most challenging component to be considered, and is frequently not evaluated correctly.
The method of measuring distance is defined in administrative code 3301-83-01 (E)(1). [This language will be relocated to 3301-83-04 pending ODEW’s rules revisions currently in process.]
The code language reads as follows: “Measurement of distance”, unless otherwise specified, means measurement originating 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.
This language should be used for all distance considerations, including eligibility distance from school and distance from home to the bus stop. Unpacking this further, this distance is obtained by driving from home to school, using the shortest route. This is NOT a radius drawn around a specific location.
To measure this, you can use routing software, as long as your software maps are based upon actual maps and are drawn to scale. Software packages that can be used obtain their base maps from Ohio DOT, county planning commission maps and/or fire department maps. The critical elements are that the street lengths must be correct, and addresses must be correctly geolocated so that they are correct on the street. A common term used for this software tool is a “walkout”. If your software uses approximation to place street addresses, it cannot be used for measuring distance. Google maps is also not a reliable tool since it approximates house addresses on the street.
Another way to measure distance is to use a vehicle that has a certified odometer or measuring device installed. Using the OEM installed odometer is not an accurate measurement tool.
You must use traversable driving routes – the use of pedestrian walkways or bridges, common shortcuts through fields or other property and other paths not accessible to motor vehicles are not acceptable for measurement purposes.
Distance eligibility is always measured from the student’s residence to the school of attendance. This is different from the way we manage timing eligibility. In distance eligibility we always use the school of attendance.
Example: A child attends a parochial school that is at least 5 miles outside of the district. If the district policy is to transport all students that live more than 2 miles from school, this child is eligible for transportation services.
The final consideration with eligibility is that the district policy must be applied equally to all students who reside in the district (public, nonpublic, community school). This is what is commonly referred to as “same basis” with respect to different choices for education. At the same time you may designate different eligibility zones by grade. For example, you might have a 2 mile eligibility zone for grades 7-8, and 1 mile eligibility zone for elementary school students, and a policy of “all-ride” for preschool and kindergarten.
The state minimum eligibility distance for all students in grades Kindergarten through eight is 2 miles. There is no minimum in statute for students in grades 9-12, so the district may adopt any policy for those students that it deems appropriate.
Grade level is the next consideration.
The critical element with grade level eligibility is that district policy must treat all students who reside in the district the same. This is the “same basis” aspect that was discussed above. If you transport public school high school students, you must also transport nonpublic or community school students (and vice-versa). That said, state law does not require the transportation of high school students, so the district could adopt a policy that provides transportation only for students in grades K – 8.
There is a special circumstance addressed in Revised Code 3327.01 with regard to career tech (vocational) students. A district that chooses to not transport high school students still has an obligation to provide a shuttle service between their high school and the career tech campus.
Travel Time is the final consideration
The time to travel from a child’s assigned school of attendance (if they attended public school) to their school of choice must be less than 30 minutes. Unlike distance measurement, to assess travel time we always start from the district school of assignment and not the child’s residence. This can result in the need to run timings from different district buildings if you have students in different grade levels that would be assigned to different district schools.
The timing must be done in a school bus, on a school day, and during regular school travel hours. The timing should originate at the district school of assignment, and then travel on the quickest route path that is safe for school buses to the school of attendance. The timing starts when you depart the driveway nearest the entrance door of the school of assignment and ends when the bus reaches a point on the driveway nearest the entrance door that students use at the school of attendance.
This is intended to reflect a typical travel day and at normal school travel times. Traffic backups, if normal, are part of the timing, as is the need to wait in traffic lines to access the driveway at the school of attendance.
Any timing that is more than 30 minutes results in a finding that the students affected are not eligible for transportation service. If the timing is 30 minutes or less, the district is required to offer a transportation plan for the student, which could include declaring transportation impractical and offering payment-in-lieu of transportation.
Summary
District policy must be applied equally for all students who reside in the district.
- Distance eligibility must be the same for all students in the same grade for all buildings
- Grade eligibility must be the same for all students regardless of their choice of educational program
- The same travel standards must be used for all buildings. Districts should not transport to some buildings that are over 30 minutes travel time and not to others.
There are three special considerations that should be observed
- Career tech students are entitled to a shuttle between the district high school campus and the career tech campus, even if high school transportation is not offered.
- STEM schools should be considered similar to nonpublic schools unless there is a contract in place that specifies otherwise.
- Special Education students must be transported in accordance with their IEP if there are transportation accommodations included in the IEP.