2001 Montana Legislature

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HOUSE BILL NO. 163

INTRODUCED BY H. JACOBSON

BY REQUEST OF THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION



A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT REVISING THE SCHEDULE FOR STATE AND COUNTY REIMBURSEMENT TO SCHOOL DISTRICTS FOR SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION; ELIMINATING WEIGHTED RIDERSHIP AS A BASIS FOR DETERMINING THE REIMBURSEMENT RATE; PROVIDING AN APPROPRIATION; AMENDING SECTIONS 20-10-101 AND 20-10-141, MCA; REPEALING SECTIONS 20-10-127 AND 20-10-128, MCA; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND AN APPLICABILITY DATE."



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:



     Section 1.  Section 20-10-101, MCA, is amended to read:

     "20-10-101.  Definitions. As used in this title, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following definitions apply:

     (1)  "Bus route" means a route approved by the board of trustees of a school district and by the county transportation committee.

     (2)  "Eligible transportee" means a public school pupil who:

     (a)  is 5 years of age or older and has not reached the age of 21 on or before September 10 of the current school year or who is a preschool child with a disability between the ages of 3 and 6;

     (b)  is a resident of the state of Montana;

     (c)  regardless of district and county boundaries:

     (i)  resides at least 3 miles, over the shortest practical route, from the nearest operating public elementary school or public high school, whichever the case may be; or

     (ii) has transportation identified as a related service in an individualized education program as developed and implemented in accordance with the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 1400, et seq.; and

     (d)  is considered to reside with a parent or guardian who maintains legal residence within the boundaries of the district furnishing the transportation regardless of where the eligible transportee actually lives when attending school.

     (3)  "Passenger seating position" means, as defined in 49 CFR 571.222, the space on a school bus allocated for one passenger.

     (4)  (a) "School bus" means, except as provided in subsection (4)(b), any motor vehicle that:

     (i)  complies with the bus standards established by the board of public education as verified by the department of justice's semiannual inspection of school buses and the superintendent of public instruction; and

     (ii) is owned by a district or other public agency and operated for the transportation of pupils to or from school or owned by a carrier under contract with a district or public agency to provide transportation of pupils to or from school.

     (b)  A school bus does not include a vehicle that is:

     (i)  privately owned and not operated for compensation under this title;

     (ii) privately owned and operated for reimbursement under 20-10-142;

     (iii) either district-owned or privately owned, designed to carry not more than nine passengers, and used to transport pupils to or from activity events or to transport pupils to their homes in case of illness or other emergency situations; or

     (iv) an over-the-road passenger coach used only to transport pupils to activity events.

     (5)  "Transportation" means:

     (a)  a district's conveyance of a pupil by a school bus between the pupil's legal residence or an officially designated bus stop and the school designated by the trustees for the pupil's attendance; or

     (b)  "individual transportation" by which a district is relieved of actually conveying a pupil. Individual transportation may include paying the parent or guardian for conveying the pupil, reimbursing the parent or guardian for the pupil's board and room, or providing supervised correspondence study or supervised home study.

     (6)  "Transportation service area" means the geographic area of responsibility for school bus transportation for each district that operates a school bus transportation program.

     (7)  "Weighted ridership" means the sum of the passenger points assigned to the eligible transportees who are transported on a bus route."



     Section 2.  Section 20-10-141, MCA, is amended to read:

     "20-10-141.  Schedule of maximum reimbursement by mileage rates. (1) The following mileage rates in subsection (2) for school transportation constitute the maximum reimbursement to districts for school transportation from state and county sources of transportation revenue under the provisions of 20-10-145 and 20-10-146. These rates may not limit the amount that a district may budget in its transportation fund budget in order to provide for the estimated and necessary cost of school transportation during the ensuing school fiscal year. All bus miles traveled on bus routes approved by the county transportation committee are reimbursable. Nonbus mileage is reimbursable for a vehicle driven by a bus driver to and from an overnight location of a school bus when the location is more than 10 miles from the school. A district may approve additional bus or nonbus miles within its own district or approved service area but may not claim reimbursement for the mileage. Any vehicle, the operation of which is reimbursed for bus mileage under the rate provisions of this schedule, must be a school bus, as defined by this title, driven by a qualified driver on a bus route approved by the county transportation committee and the superintendent of public instruction.

     (2)  (a)  The rate per for each bus mile traveled must be determined in accordance with the following schedule when the weighted ridership assigned to a bus route is not less than one-half of the rated capacity of the school bus:

     (a)(i)  85 95 cents per bus mile for a school bus with a rated capacity of not more than 45 49 passenger seating positions;

     (ii) $1.15 for a school bus with a rated capacity of 50 to 59 passenger seating positions;

     (iii) $1.36 for a school bus with a rated capacity of 60 to 69 passenger seating positions;

     (iv) $1.57 for a school bus with a rated capacity of 70 to 79 passenger seating positions; and

     (v) $1.80 for a school bus with 80 or more passenger seating positions.

     (b)  when the rated capacity is more than 45 passenger seating positions, an additional 2.13 cents per bus mile for each additional passenger seating position in the rated capacity in excess of 45 must be added to a base rate of 85 cents per bus mile Nonbus mileage, as provided in subsection (1), must be reimbursed at a rate of 50 cents a mile.

     (3)  Reimbursement for nonbus mileage provided for in subsection (1) may not exceed 50% of the maximum reimbursement rate determined under subsection (2).

     (4)  When the weighted ridership assigned to a bus route is less than one-half of the rated capacity of the school bus, the rate per bus mile traveled must be computed as follows:

     (a)  determine the weighted ridership assigned to the bus route;

     (b)  multiply the number determined in subsection (4)(a) by two; and

     (c)  use the adjusted rated capacity determined in subsection (4)(b) as the rated capacity of the bus to determine the rate per bus mile traveled from the rate schedule in subsection (2).

     (5)(3)  The rated capacity is the number of passenger seating positions of a school bus as determined under the policy adopted by the board of public education. If modification of a school bus to accommodate pupils with disabilities reduces the rated capacity of the bus, the reimbursement to a district for pupil transportation is based on the rated capacity of the bus prior to modification.

     (6)(4)  The number of pupils riding the school bus may not exceed the passenger seating positions of the bus."



     NEW SECTION.  Section 3.  Repealer. Sections 20-10-127 and 20-10-128, MCA, are repealed.



     NEW SECTION.  Section 4.  Appropriation. There is appropriated $1.7 million from the general fund to the office of public instruction for each of the school fiscal years 2002 and 2003 to pay for school district transportation reimbursements.



     NEW SECTION.  Section 5.  Effective date -- applicability. [This act] is effective July 1, 2001, and applies to school district transportation budgets for school fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2001.

- END -




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