702 KAR 5:110. Vocational pupils, reimbursement for.
RELATES TO: KRS 157.370
STATUTORY AUTHORITY: KRS 156.070, 157.370(8)
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY: KRS 157.370(8) requires a local board of education to be reimbursed separately for the cost of transporting pupils from a parent school to a vocational-technical school or to a vocational education center, and requires the Board of Education to promulgate an administrative regulation establishing the reimbursement amount. This administrative regulation establishes the reimbursement requirements and limitations for those districts that transport secondary school pupils.
Section 1. A local district may provide bus transportation for the district's secondary school pupils from their parent school to a vocational school (e.g., a state vocational-technical school, an area vocational education center, or to a vocational training site) where an integral part of the basic vocational instructional program is being provided.
Section 2. An application showing anticipated transportation of pupils to a vocational school for which reimbursement is to be claimed shall be submitted to the Office of District Support Services for approval on or before October 1 of the current school year.
Section 3. A request for reimbursement for transportation to a vocational school shall be the responsibility of the district providing the transportation.
Section 4. A request for reimbursement for actual transportation to a vocational school shall be made on an annual basis on or before June 30 of the current school year to the Office of District Support Services in the Department of Education.
Section 5. Tentative funding in the current year shall be based upon information submitted on district applications. Any necessary adjustments shall be made in the following year based on the actual transportation provided.
Section 6. A local district that transports pupils to a vocational school on buses owned and operated by the district shall be reimbursed for these expenditures as follows:
(1) Bus mileage at a rate not to exceed the average cost per bus mile for county school districts, exclusive of driver's cost, as calculated by the Office of District Support Services for the previous school year; and
(2) The vocational school bus driver's cost at an hourly rate not to exceed the hourly rate paid by the district to a driver in the district's regular transportation program with similar qualifications.
Section 7. If a district's pupils are transported to a vocational school over a toll road as the nearest or best route, either on a board-owned bus or a bus contracted to the board, the district shall be reimbursed for the toll road fee in addition to mileage and driver's cost.
Section 8. (1) A district that contracts for the transportation of its pupils to a vocational school shall be reimbursed an amount not to exceed the total amount that would result if:
(a) The vocational school bus mileage is multiplied by the average cost per bus mile for county districts exclusive of driver's cost; and
(b) the driver's total hours are multiplied by the average hourly rate paid by county school districts plus necessary toll road fees.
(2) The average mileage cost and average hourly rate shall be those calculated by the Office of District Support Services for the previous school year.
Section 9.(1) Bus mileage shall be calculated from the parent school to the vocational school over the nearest and best route. If the same bus is used to transport pupils to a vocational school from more than one (1) school within the same district, bus mileage shall be calculated from the school located farthest from the vocational school over the nearest and best route as the bus serves the other schools en route to the vocational school.
(2) A bus round trip shall be considered the transportation of the student to and from a vocational school. A bus driver transporting students on a bus from a high school to a vocational school and returning back without the students to the high school shall be considered to have made half of a round trip. Similarly, a bus driver departing from the high school without the students, going to the vocational school and returning back to the high school with the students shall be considered to have made half of a round trip.
Section 10. The total hours of driver's pay per day that will be reimbursed for transporting pupils to a vocational school shall be calculated on the basis of what the driver does while the pupils are in class at the vocational school as follows:
(1) If the driver waits at the vocational school for the full time that the pupils are in class, the driver's time shall start when the bus leaves the parent school farthest from which pupils are transported to the vocational school and shall stop when the pupils are returned to the farthest parent school;
(2) If the driver unloads the pupils at the vocational school, then takes the bus to another location and returns to pick up the pupils when the classes are finished, the first half of the drivers time shall start when the bus leaves the parent school farthest from the vocational school and ends when the driver reaches the point where the bus is parked until time to make the bus trip to the vocational school to return the pupils to their parent school. The second half of the driver's time shall start when the bus leaves the point where the bus was parked and ends when the bus reaches the parent school farthest from the vocational school; and
(3) If possible or practical, the district shall pay the bus driver by the method that results in the least cost when the driver's time and the required bus mileage are considered in combination.
Section 11. The driver of the bus that transports pupils to a vocational school shall meet the same requirements as the district's bus drivers that transport pupils to the district's public schools.
Section 12. A school district shall be reimbursed for the cost of vocational school transportation for the actual number of days that pupils were transported to the vocational school up to a maximum of 175 days per school year.
Section 13. One (1) district may make a contract with another district to transport the other district's pupils to a vocational school on the same bus with the transporting district's pupils or on a separate bus.
Section 14. If one (1) district contracts to provide a bus or buses to transport another district's pupils to a vocational school, the district providing the bus or buses shall claim additional reimbursement only for the extra bus miles required and the extra hours of bus driver time required to provide this service for the other district.
Section 15. A district shall make maximum use of the bus that transports pupils to a vocational school through planning and routing. The use of more than one (1) bus for transporting pupils from any school or group of schools to a vocational school shall be approved only if the length of time required for one (1) bus to pick up and transport the pupils would be impractical or the number of pupils on one (1) bus would exceed seating capacity.
Section 16. A district shall not be reimbursed for the transportation of vocational school pupils on field trips, excursions, competitions, or recreational trips.
Section 17. A district shall not be reimbursed for the vocational transportation from the parent school to the vocational school if the vocational school is on the same grounds or on adjacent grounds to the parent school or within one-half (1/2) mile of the parent school. (SBE 76.200(3); 1 Ky.R. 1054; eff. 6-11-75; Am. 9 Ky.R. 1311; eff. 7-6-83; 12 Ky.R. 1859; eff. 7-2-86; 17 Ky.R. 439; 1355; eff. 10-14-90; 31 Ky.R. 1583; 1813; eff. 5-26-05.)