ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fifth Legislature, First Regular Session
schools; transportation support; programs; appropriation
Purpose
Establishes the Transportation Support for Enrollment Options Grant Program (Enrollment Options Grant Program) and Parent Options for School Transportation Grant Program (Parent Options Grant Program) and prescribes grant eligibility, funding and uses. Appropriates $10 million from the state General Fund (GF) in FY 2022 to the State Board of Education (SBE) to distribute as transportation grants.
Background
Currently, school districts receive funding for transportation support through two different calculations. The Transportation Support Level (TSL) includes support levels for transportation: 1) to and from school; 2) for academic education, CTE, vocational education and athletic trips; and 3) for extended-year services for students with disabilities. The support level for each approved route mile is adjusted by the prescribed growth rate (A.R.S. 15-945). The Transportation Revenue Control Limit (TRCL) is determined by adding the increase in TSL from the current year, to the budget year, to the current year's TRCL. However, if TRCL is more than 120% of TSL, then TRCL may not be increased (A.R.S. 15-946).
School districts are required to establish policies implementing open enrollment that include admission criteria, application procedures and transportation provisions. A school district governing board may provide transportation limited to 20 miles each way to and from the school of attendance or a pickup point or for the total miles traveled each day to an adjacent district for eligible nonresident students who meet the economic eligibility requirements or nonresident students with disabilities whose individualized education program specifies that transportation is necessary for fulfillment of the program (A.R.S. 15-816.01).
S.B. 1683 appropriates $10 million from the state GF to the SBE in FY 2022.
Provisions
Enrollment Options Grant Program
1. Requires the SBE to establish and adopt rules to administer the Enrollment Options Grant Program beginning in the 2021-2022 school year.
2. Allows the parent of a student in Arizona to apply for monthly transportation grants up to $80 per month, subject to available monies, if the following conditions apply:
a) the student attends either:
i. a charter school; or
ii. a school available to them under the open enrollment statute; and
b) the parent either:
i. requires financial support to send their child to the selected school; or
ii. lives within 20 miles of the school district boundary of the selected open enrollment school, but a bus program is not available to pick up the student in the parent's neighborhood.
Parent Options Grant Program
3. Requires the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to establish the Parent Options Grant Program beginning in the 2021-2022 school year.
4. Allows school districts and charter schools to apply to ADE to participate in the Parent Options Grant Program.
5. Allows participating school districts and charter schools to use a portion of its transportation grant funding to provide transportation grants to parents of students in that school or district.
6. Requires each participating school district and charter school to report to ADE the amount of grant monies awarded on a monthly basis.
Grant Appropriations and Requirements
7. Appropriates $10 million from the state GF in FY 2022 to the SBE to distribute as follows:
a) $5 million to school districts and charter schools as Public School Transportation Modernization Grants (Modernization Grants);
b) $3 million to school districts and charter schools as Family Transportation Stipend Grants (Stipend Grants); and
c) $2 million to municipalities as Improved Municipal Bus Route Grants (Bus Route Grants).
8. Requires the SBE to award at least 25 percent of Modernization Grants and Stipend Grants to support rural and remote proposals, unless an insufficient number of these proposals are submitted.
9. Directs a school district or charter school to use Modernization Grants to support the development and implementation of innovations in public school transportation, including:
a) transportation resource sharing with neighboring school districts or charter schools;
b) developing or contracting with ridesharing programs;
c) developing options for reducing costs and improving efficiencies while improving access to transportation for families;
d) exploring the use of vans instead of buses and engaging in neighborhood carpool strategies; and
e) options to address personnel challenges.
10. Directs a school district or charter school to use Stipend Grant monies to issue grants for families to cover the costs of:
a) driving students to school;
b) neighborhood carpools; or
c) bus fare.
11. Directs a municipality to use Bus Route Grants to:
a) plan for and build capacity ensuring bus stops exist in front of multifamily and low-income housing and every public school within the municipality's boundaries;
b) reevaluate bus routes to eliminate ride time for students in kindergarten programs and grades 1 through 12 and families wishing to engage with public schools in the municipality; and
c) develop creative partnerships with public schools in the municipality and community partners to ensure safe student passage to school.
SBE Responsibilities
12. Directs the SBE to collaborate with the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools (ASBCS) to:
a) determine grant recipients; and
b) develop grant applications and application procedures, including requiring an applicant explain how grant monies would be used to:
i. improve access to transportation for students; and
ii. support transportation innovation and efficiencies.
13. Allows the SBE, in collaboration with the ASBCS, to appoint a Transportation Solution Committee (Committee) consisting of any combination of the following members:
a) county school superintendents;
b) parents;
c) community advocates; and
d) education and regional transportation policy experts.
14. Allows the Committee, at the request of the SBE in collaboration with the ASBCS, to:
a) consider and approve approaches to solving the challenge of helping students access safe and affordable transportation to school;
b) assist in developing grant applications and application procedures; and
c) assist in selecting grant recipients.
Miscellaneous
15. Ends the Enrollment Options Grant Program and the Parent Options Grant Program on July 1, 2031.
16. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 5, 2021
JO/JP/gs