Education (School Transportation)

Allows an individual school district that can utilize its own buses or vendors at a lower cost than the statewide system, to obtain reimbursement for these costs from state funds.

Allows an individual school district that can utilize its own buses or vendors at a lower cost than the statewide system, to obtain reimbursement for these costs from state funds.

Provides the department of elementary and secondary education, in consultation with a workgroup composed of various stakeholders, develops a funding formula for school districts sending students to career and technical programs outside their district.

HB 7025 requires Rhode Island school committees to provide transportation for any student living two or more miles from their assigned school. This policy change directly affects school committees statewide and the students who reside at that distance from their school. The bill amends existing law to explicitly mandate this transportation service as a specific duty of school committees, adding it to their list of responsibilities under Section 16-2-9(21). The requirement applies to all public school districts and takes effect upon passage.