Fiscal Note
Fiscal Services Division
HF 2278 – School Bus Open Enrollment (LSB1362HZ.3)
Staff Contact: Jacob Ludwig (515.725.0155) jacob.ludwig@legis.iowa.gov
Fiscal Note Version – Final Action
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.
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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
/s/ Jennifer Acton
May 1, 2024
Doc ID 1449490
The fiscal note for this Bill was prepared pursuant to Joint Rule 17 and the Iowa Code. Data used in developing this
fiscal note is available from the Fiscal Services Division of the Legislative Services Agency upon request.
www.legis.iowa.gov
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Statutes affected:
Introduced: 282.18
Reprinted: 282.18