Ohio’s school transportation system must adapt to meet the changing needs of students, a state work group concluded in a recent report.
“The draft, written by an outside consultant, reiterates that opinions vary on exact fixes,” WOSU Public Media reported. “But several suggestions appear to have consensus: that the state needs to provide more funding for school transportation and that the current system is not working for public, private or charter school students.”
State law requires public school districts to provide bus or van transportation to all K-8 students who live more than two miles from the school they attend, WOSU reported, and to transport private-school students who live up to 30 minutes away. More than 140,000 Ohio students use school choice programs to attend private schools, representing about 8% of the state’s K-12 population.
The report described more than 22,000 students as “impractical to transport” because they attend charter or private schools.
If students outside the public school system are considered impractical to transport, districts can offer payments of up to $1,214.29 per student each school year, according to the report.
