Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

0033.02000
     Sixty-seventh
     Legislative Assembly                     HOUSE BILL NO. 1027
     of North Dakota
     Introduced by
       Legislative Management
       (Education Funding Formula Review Committee)
  A BILL for an Act to create and enact five new sections to chapter 15.1-27 of the North Dakota
  Century Code, relating to school district transportation aid payments; and to amend and reenact
  section 15.1-31-05 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to the transportation of open
  enrollment students.
  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF NORTH DAKOTA:
      SECTION 1. A new section to chapter 15.1-27 of the North Dakota Century Code is created
  and enacted as follows:
      School district transportation of students - Payments.
      1.   The superintendent of public instruction shall pay each school district providing school
          bus transportation in contract schoolbuses or in district-owned and operated
          schoolbuses, and each school district with students riding commercial buses to and
          from school within the incorporated limits of a city, the following amounts from state
          funds:
          a.     For schoolbuses and school vehicles transporting students:
                 (1)   Fifty-two cents per mile [1.61 kilometers] for vehicles that have a capacity of
                       fewer than ten students; and
                 (2)   One dollar and eleven cents per mile [1.61 kilometers] for schoolbuses that
                       have a capacity of ten or more students; and
          b.     Thirty cents per one-way trip for each student transported.
     2.   The superintendent of public instruction shall provide per mileage payments if:
          a.     A school district qualifies to receive payment pursuant to subsection 1; and
          b.     The school district operates schoolbuses in accordance with state law relating to
                 schoolbus standards and school vehicle driver requirements. A school district
                 shall certify compliance with state law relating to schoolbus standards and school
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                vehicle driver requirements when applying for payment under this section. The
                superintendent of public instruction may adopt rules governing certification of
                compliance under this subdivision.
      3.   The superintendent of public instruction shall reimburse school districts fifty cents per
           day per mile [1.61 kilometers] one-way for each mile over two miles [3.22 kilometers]
           for students transported by family transportation in accordance with section
           15.1-30-02, according to the distance between the home of the student and the
           school. The distance must be measured by the route from the front door of the school
           attended to the front door of the residence of the family of the student according to the
          most convenient public course traveled.
     4.   The superintendent of public instruction shall use the latest available student
          enrollment count in each school district in applying the provisions of this section.
     5.   This section does not authorize the reimbursement of any costs incurred in providing
          transportation for students to attend extracurricular activities or events.
     6.   The superintendent of public instruction shall develop, and require school districts use,
          a uniform cost accounting system to calculate and administer the reimbursements
          provided under this section. The superintendent shall prepare forms and statements
          necessary for school districts to apply for reimbursements under this section.
    SECTION 2. A new section to chapter 15.1-27 of the North Dakota Century Code is created
 and enacted as follows:
    School district transportation of special education students - Payments.
     1.   The superintendent of public instruction shall pay each school district transporting
          students enrolled in special education programs approved by the superintendent of
          public instruction:
          a.   The amount provided in section 1 of this Act for vehicles that have a capacity of
               fewer than ten students if the school district is transporting fewer than
               ten students per vehicle;
          b.   The amount provided in section 1 of this Act for vehicles that have a capacity of
               ten or more students if the school district is transporting ten or more students per
               vehicle; and
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           c.   The additional amount provided in section 1 of this Act, per one-way trip, for each
                student transported.
      2.   Except as provided in subsection 3, a school district entitled to payments under this
           section is entitled to receive transportation aid for all miles [kilometers] traveled and for
           all students transported, regardless of whether the students transported live within the
           incorporated limits of the city in which the students' school is located.
      3.   A school district may not receive more than one per student payment for transportation
           of a student regardless of the number of times a student is transported in one day.
      4.   The superintendent of public instruction shall reimburse school districts fifty cents per
          day per mile [1.61 kilometers] if:
          a.   The student being transported has a disability, as defined in chapter 15.1-32;
          b.   The student has an individualized education plan that requires the student attend
               a public or nonpublic school located outside the student's school district of
               residence;
          c.   The student is transported by an adult family member in family provided
               transportation; and
          d.   The reimbursement does not exceed two round trips per day between the home
               of the student and the school.
     5.   Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the superintendent of public instruction,
          upon request from the school district, shall make the payments due to a school district
          under this section directly to a multidistrict special education unit.
    SECTION 3. A new section to chapter 15.1-27 of the North Dakota Century Code is created
 and enacted as follows:
    School district transportation of career and technical education students - Payments.
     1.   The superintendent of public instruction shall pay each school district transporting
          students to and from schools in other school districts and to and from schools within
          the district for vocational and technical education courses offered through cooperative
          arrangements approved by the state board for career and technical education:
          a.   The amount provided in section 1 of this Act for vehicles that have a capacity of
               fewer than ten students if the school district is transporting fewer than
               ten students per vehicle;
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           b.   The amount provided in section 1 of this Act for vehicles that have a capacity of
                ten or more students if the school district is transporting ten or more students per
                vehicle; and
           c.   The additional amount provided in section 1 of this Act, per one-way trip, for each
                student transported.
      2.   Except as provided in subsection 3, a school district entitled to payments under this
           section is entitled to receive transportation aid for all miles [kilometers] traveled and for
           all students transported, regardless of whether the students transported live within the
           incorporated limits of the city in which the students' school is located.
     3.   A school district may not receive more than one per student payment for transportation
          of a student regardless of the number of times a student is transported in one day.
     4.   Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the superintendent of public instruction,
          upon request from the school district, shall make the payments due to a school district
          under this section directly to an area vocational and technology center.
    SECTION 4. A new section to chapter 15.1-27 of the North Dakota Century Code is created
 and enacted as follows:
    School district closure - Distribution of transportation payments.
     1.   If a school district ceases to exist, the superintendent of public instruction shall
          calculate the amount of transportation payments to which the former school district
          would have been entitled for providing transportation services during the school
          district's final year of operation and shall pay a percentage of the amount certified to
          each school district in the state which enrolls students who attended the former school
          district during the prior school year. Each school district eligible for payment under this
          section is entitled to receive the percentage of the total amount certified which is the
          same as the percentage of the number of the district's students who attended the
          former school district during the prior school year bears to the total number of students
          who attended the former school district during the prior school year.
     2.   The superintendent of public instruction shall pay the amount to which a school district
          is entitled under this section in the manner and at the time provided for other state
          payments in section 15.1-27-01.
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      SECTION 5. A new section to chapter 15.1-27 of the North Dakota Century Code is created
  and enacted as follows:
      State transportation payments to school districts.
      1.   The superintendent of public instruction shall determine the total amount of payments
           to be made to the school districts for the transportation of students and shall pay the
           amount certified to each school district. Payments must be made in the same manner
           and at the time provided for other state payments in section 15.1-27-01.
      2.   A school district may not receive more than ninety percent of the actual costs incurred
           for the transportation of students.
     3.   For purposes of this section, actual costs include the transportation operating
          expenditures reported to the superintendent of public instruction for the most recent
          year plus the eight-year average cost of transportation equipment determined by the
          superintendent of public instruction. Any district having contracted for transportation
          services may determine the actual costs for the first year the district provides its own
          transportation services by using the statewide average cost of transportation during
          the first year.
     SECTION 6. AMENDMENT. Section 15.1-31-05 of the North Dakota Century Code is
 amended and reenacted as follows:
     15.1-31-05. Open enrollment - Transportation.
     A school district of residence may provide transportation to a student participating in open
 enrollment. If a district of residence does not provide transportation to a student participating in
 open enrollment, transportation may be provided by the admitting district. A school district may
 not receive transportation aid disbursements under subdivision a of subsection 1 of section 1 of
 this Act for transporting students who are participating in open enrollment, or who are enrolled
 pursuant to a written contract entered by the sending and admitting districts which waives the
 charge and collection of tuition for the student.
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Statutes affected: 
INTRODUCED: 15.1-31-05
FIRST ENGROSSMENT: 15.1-31-05
Enrollment: 15.1-31-05
PREFILED: 15.1-31-05