Brief(1)
H.B. 2046 extends from July 1, 1999, to July 1, 2002, the expiration date applicable to legislation, described below, which concerns school district transportation of certain students who attend school in a district other than the one of residence.
The current law allows a parent or guardian of a pupil who lives ten or more miles from an attendance center and nearer to a center in another school district to apply to the board of education of the home district for permission to have the pupil transported and attend school in the other district. The application must be made before July 15 of the current school year. Upon receipt of an application, the board of education of the home district inquires if the receiving school district will be willing to receive and furnish transportation for the pupil. If the receiving district agrees to do this, the two boards determine if the pupil does, in fact, reside ten or more miles from the attendance center of the pupil in the home district and nearer to the attendance center the pupil will attend in the receiving district. If these conditions exist, the sending district issues an order authorizing the pupil to enroll in the receiving school district. This authorization permits the receiving district to transport the pupil to and from the pupil's home to the school attended.
A pupil attending school in a receiving district is counted as regularly enrolled in the receiving district for purposes of the School District Finance and Quality Performance Act, except for the transportation weighting component of the law. The pupil may not be charged for the costs of attendance at school in the receiving school district.
The provisions of this law do not apply to pupils in a school district located in all or part of Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, or Wyandotte Counties.
Background
The law described above was enacted by the 1997 Legislature. That legislation contained a July 1, 1999 expiration date. H.B. 2046, as introduced, proposed to remove the expiration provision, thus making the law permanent. The House Committee on Education amended the bill to extend the expiration date by two years--from July 1, 1999 to July 1, 2001. The Senate Committee on Education amended the bill to extend the expiration date for three years--from July 1, 1999 to July 1, 2002.
The only conferee was Representative Aurand. He explained the reason for urging enactment of the bill in 1997. Representative Aurand reported that State Department of Education data show nearly 700 pupils are enrolled, attending, and receiving transportation under provisions of the legislation. He estimated, based on conversations with various parties, that 80.0 percent to 85.0 percent of these students were attending school in out-of-district schools before the law was passed. Now, they can be provided bus transportation from their home to the school attended. This is a great convenience to the parents of these pupils.
When H.B. 2046 was considered by the Senate Education Committee, Representative Weber also appeared as a proponent and presented a letter from a Council Grove family explaining that two of three of their children qualified for transportation to another district under this law but the third child did not, and, therefore, was denied that service. That child must be transported by the family to a school bus stop in the other district in order to ride the bus to the school attended in that district.
The fiscal note on H.B. 2046 reports that the State Department of Education indicates any fiscal effect of H.B. 2046 could be met within existing resources and that no additional state appropriation would be required.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html.