HB0987 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 08079 NHT 18185 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
HB0987

Introduced 2/10/2009, by Rep. Kevin A. McCarthy

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/29-2	from Ch. 122, par. 29-2
105 ILCS 5/29-3	from Ch. 122, par. 29-3
105 ILCS 5/29-4	from Ch. 122, par. 29-4
105 ILCS 5/29-5.2	from Ch. 122, par. 29-5.2

Amends the Transportation Article of the School Code. Provides that a school board shall provide free transportation for pupils residing at a distance of one mile (instead of one and one-half miles) or more from school. Makes related changes in provisions concerning transportation of pupils less than that distance from school, pupils attending a charter school or nonpublic school, and reimbursement of a custodian of a qualifying pupil for transportation expenses paid by the custodian. Effective July 1, 2009.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Sections 29-2, 29-3, 29-4, and 29-5.2 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/29-2) (from Ch. 122, par. 29-2)

Sec. 29-2. Transportation of pupils less than one mile and one-half miles from school. School boards may provide transportation for pupils living less than one mile and one-half miles as measured by the customary route of travel from the school attended and may make a charge for such transportation in an amount of not to exceed the cost thereof, which shall include a reasonable allowance for depreciation of the vehicles so used.

(Source: Laws 1961, p. 31.)

(105 ILCS 5/29-3) (from Ch. 122, par. 29-3)

Sec. 29-3. Transportation in school districts. School boards of community consolidated districts, community unit districts, consolidated districts, consolidated high school districts, optional elementary unit districts, combined high school - unit districts, combined school districts if the combined district includes any district which was previously required to provide transportation, and any newly created elementary or high school districts resulting from a high school - unit conversion, a unit to dual conversion, or a multi-unit conversion if the newly created district includes any area that was previously required to provide transportation shall provide free transportation for pupils residing at a distance of one mile and one-half miles or more from any school to which they are assigned for attendance maintained within the district, except for those pupils for whom the school board shall certify to the State Board of Education that adequate transportation for the public is available.

For the purpose of this Act one mile 1 1/2 miles distance shall be from the exit of the property where the pupil resides to the point where pupils are normally unloaded at the school attended; such distance shall be measured by determining the shortest distance on normally traveled roads or streets.

Such school board may comply with the provisions of this Section by providing free transportation for pupils to and from an assigned school and a pick-up point located not more than one mile and one-half miles from the home of each pupil assigned to such point.

For the purposes of this Act "adequate transportation for the public" shall be assumed to exist for such pupils as can reach school by walking, one way, along normally traveled roads or streets less than one mile 1 1/2 miles irrespective of the distance the pupil is transported by public transportation.

In addition to the other requirements of this Section, each school board may provide free transportation for any pupil residing within one mile 1 1/2 miles from the school attended where conditions are such that walking, either to or from the school to which a pupil is assigned for attendance or to or from a pick-up point or bus stop, constitutes a serious hazard to the safety of the pupil due to vehicular traffic or rail crossings. Such transportation shall not be provided if adequate transportation for the public is available.

The determination as to what constitutes a serious safety hazard shall be made by the school board, in accordance with guidelines promulgated by the Illinois Department of Transportation, in consultation with the State Superintendent of Education. A school board, on written petition of the parent or guardian of a pupil for whom adequate transportation for the public is alleged not to exist because the pupil is required to walk along normally traveled roads or streets where walking is alleged to constitute a serious safety hazard due to vehicular traffic or rail crossings, or who is required to walk between the pupil's home and assigned school or between the pupil's home or assigned school and a pick-up point or bus stop along roads or streets where walking is alleged to constitute a serious safety hazard due to vehicular traffic or rail crossings, shall conduct a study and make findings, which the Department of Transportation shall review and approve or disapprove as provided in this Section, to determine whether a serious safety hazard exists as alleged in the petition. The Department of Transportation shall review the findings of the school board and shall approve or disapprove the school board's determination that a serious safety hazard exists within 30 days after the school board submits its findings to the Department. The school board shall annually review the conditions and determine whether or not the hazardous conditions remain unchanged. The State Superintendent of Education may request that the Illinois Department of Transportation verify that the conditions have not changed. No action shall lie against the school board, the State Superintendent of Education or the Illinois Department of Transportation for decisions made in accordance with this Section. The provisions of the Administrative Review Law and all amendments and modifications thereof and the rules adopted pursuant thereto shall apply to and govern all proceedings instituted for the judicial review of final administrative decisions of the Department of Transportation under this Section.

(Source: P.A. 94-439, eff. 8-4-05; 95-903, eff. 8-25-08.)

(105 ILCS 5/29-4) (from Ch. 122, par. 29-4)

Sec. 29-4. Pupils attending a charter school or nonpublic school. The school board of any school district that provides any school bus or conveyance for transporting pupils to and from the public schools shall afford transportation, without cost, for children who attend a charter school or any school other than a public school, who reside at least one mile 1 1/2 miles from the school attended, and who reside on or along the highway constituting the regular route of such public school bus or conveyance, such transportation to extend from some point on the regular route nearest or most easily accessible to their homes to and from the school attended, or to or from a point on such regular route which is nearest or most easily accessible to the school attended by such children. Nothing herein shall be construed to prevent high school districts from transporting public or non-public elementary school pupils on a regular route where deemed appropriate. The elementary district in which such pupils reside shall enter into a contractual agreement with the high school district providing the service, make payments accordingly, and make claims to the State in the amount of such contractual payments. The person in charge of any charter school or school other than a public school shall certify on a form to be provided by the State Superintendent of Education, the names and addresses of pupils transported and when such pupils were in attendance at the school. If any such children reside within one mile 1 1/2 miles from the school attended, the school board shall afford such transportation to such children on the same basis as it provides transportation for its own pupils residing within that distance from the school attended.

Nothing herein shall be construed to preclude a school district from operating separate regular bus routes, subject to the limitations of this Section, for the benefit of children who attend a charter school or any school other than a public school where the operation of such routes is safer, more economical and more efficient than if such school district were precluded from operating separate regular bus routes.

If a school district is required by this Section to afford transportation without cost for any child who is not a resident of the district, the school district providing such transportation is entitled to reimbursement from the school district in which the child resides for the cost of furnishing that transportation, including a reasonable allowance for depreciation on each vehicle so used. The school district where the child resides shall reimburse the district providing the transportation for such costs, by the 10th of each month or on such less frequent schedule as may be agreed to by the 2 school districts.

(Source: P.A. 91-407, eff. 8-3-99.)

(105 ILCS 5/29-5.2) (from Ch. 122, par. 29-5.2)

Sec. 29-5.2. Reimbursement of transportation.

(a) Reimbursement. A custodian of a qualifying pupil shall be entitled to reimbursement in accordance with procedures established by the State Board of Education for qualified transportation expenses paid by such custodian during the school year.

(b) Definitions. As used in this Section:

(1) "Qualifying pupil" means an individual referred to in subsection (c), as well as an individual who:

(A) is a resident of the State of Illinois; and

(B) is under the age of 21 at the close of the school year for which reimbursement is sought; and

(C) during the school year for which reimbursement is sought was a full-time pupil enrolled in a kindergarten through 12th grade educational program at a school which was a distance of one mile 1 1/2 miles or more from the residence of such pupil; and

(D) did not live within one mile 1 1/2 miles from the school in which the pupil was enrolled or have access to transportation provided entirely at public expense to and from that school and a point within one mile 1 1/2 miles of the pupil's residence, measured in a manner consistent with Section 29-3.

(2) "Qualified transportation expenses" means costs reasonably incurred by the custodian to transport, for the purposes of attending regularly scheduled day-time classes, a qualifying pupil between such qualifying pupil's residence and the school at which such qualifying pupil is enrolled, as limited in subsection (e) of this Section, and shall include automobile expenses at the standard mileage rate allowed by the United States Internal Revenue Service as reimbursement for business transportation expense, as well as payments to mass transit carriers, private carriers, and contractual fees for transportation.

(3) "School" means a public or nonpublic elementary or secondary school in Illinois, attendance at which satisfies the requirements of Section 26-1.

(4) One mile and one-half miles distance. For the purposes of this Section, one mile 1 1/2 miles distance shall be measured in a manner consistent with Section 29-3.

(5) Custodian. The term "custodian" shall mean, with respect to a qualifying pupil, an Illinois resident who is the parent, or parents, or legal guardian of such qualifying pupil.

(c) An individual, resident of the State of Illinois, who is under the age of 21 at the close of the school year for which reimbursement is sought and who, during that school year, was a full time pupil enrolled in a kindergarten through 12th grade educational program at a school which was within one mile 1 1/2 miles of the pupil's residence, measured in a manner consistent with Section 29-3, is a "qualifying pupil" within the meaning of this Section if: (i) such pupil did not have access to transportation provided entirely at public expense to and from that school and the pupil's residence, and (ii) conditions were such that walking would have constituted a serious hazard to the safety of the pupil due to vehicular traffic. The determination of what constitutes a serious safety hazard within the meaning of this subsection shall in each case be made by the Department of Transportation in accordance with guidelines which the Department, in consultation with the State Superintendent of Education, shall promulgate. Each custodian intending to file an application for reimbursement under subsection (d) for expenditures incurred or to be incurred with respect to a pupil asserted to be a qualified pupil as an individual referred to in this subsection shall first file with the appropriate regional superintendent, on forms provided by the State Board of Education, a request for a determination that a serious safety hazard within the meaning of this subsection (c) exists with respect to such pupil. Custodians shall file such forms with the appropriate regional superintendents not later than February 1 of the school year for which reimbursement will be sought for transmittal by the regional superintendents to the Department of Transportation not later than February 15; except that any custodian who previously received a determination that a serious safety hazard exists need not resubmit such a request for 4 years but instead may certify on their application for reimbursement to the State Board of Education referred to in subsection (d), that the conditions found to be hazardous, as previously determined by the Department, remain unchanged. The Department shall make its determination on all requests so transmitted to it within 30 days, and shall thereupon forward notice of each determination which it has made to the appropriate regional superintendent for immediate transmittal to the custodian affected thereby. The determination of the Department relative to what constitutes a serious safety hazard within the meaning of subsection (c) with respect to any pupil shall be deemed an "administrative decision" as defined in Section 3-101 of the Administrative Review Law; and the Administrative Review Law and all amendments and modifications thereof and rules adopted pursuant thereto shall apply to and govern all proceedings instituted for the judicial review of final administrative decisions of the Department of Transportation under this subsection.

(d) Request for reimbursement. A custodian, including a custodian for a pupil asserted to be a qualified pupil as an individual referred to in subsection (c), who applies in accordance with procedures established by the State Board of Education shall be reimbursed in accordance with the dollar limits set out in this Section. Such procedures shall require application no later than June 30 of each year, documentation as to eligibility, and adequate evidence of expenditures; except that for reimbursement sought pursuant to subsection (c) for the 1985-1986 school year, such procedures shall require application within 21 days after the determination of the Department of Transportation with respect to that school year is transmitted by the regional superintendent to the affected custodian. In the absence of contemporaneous records, an affidavit by the custodian may be accepted as evidence of an expenditure. If the amount appropriated for such reimbursement for any year is less than the amount due each custodian, it shall be apportioned on the basis of the requests approved. Regional Superintendents shall be reimbursed for such costs of administering the program, including costs incurred in administering the provisions of subsection (c), as the State Board of Education determines are reasonable and necessary.

(e) Dollar limit on amount of reimbursement. Reimbursement to custodians for transportation expenses incurred during the 1985-1986 school year, payable in fiscal year 1987, shall be equal to the lesser of (1) the actual qualified transportation expenses, or (2) $50 per pupil. Reimbursement to custodians for transportation expenses incurred during the 1986-1987 school year, payable in fiscal year 1988, shall be equal to the lesser of (1) the actual qualified transportation expenses, or (2) $100 per pupil. For reimbursements of qualified transportation expenses incurred in 1987-1988 and thereafter, the amount of reimbursement shall not exceed the prior year's State reimbursement per pupil for transporting pupils as required by Section 29-3 and other provisions of this Article.

(f) Rules and regulations. The State Board of Education shall adopt rules to implement this Section.

(g) The provisions of this amendatory Act of 1986 shall apply according to their terms to the entire 1985-1986 school year, including any portion of that school year which elapses prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act, and to each subsequent school year.

(h) The chief administrative officer of each school shall notify custodians of qualifying pupils that reimbursements are available. Notification shall occur by the first Monday in November of the school year for which reimbursement is available.

(Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 2009.