December 5, 2012 Proposed Revisions to the Student Transportation Code

Most of the changes are being made for the purpose of clarifying existing rules, as well as to modify the language used for grammatical and style purposes. As an example: In 6A:27-1.5(g) we changed “form prescribed by the Commissioner” to “Commissioner-prescribed form” In 6A:27-1.7(f) we changed “receipt of the notification of the cancellation by the insured” to “the insured’s receipt of the cancellation notice” Throughout the chapter we replace the name of the division – “Finance” with “Division of Administration and Finance”

Changes, recommended by the taskforce, were also made to delete unnecessary code by referring to the authorizing statute wherever possible. As an example: We are proposing that all the current language at 6A: which describes the retirement of school buses be replaced with a single citation to NJ Motor Vehicle law governing the retirement of school buses – “School Busses shall be retired in accordance with N.J.S.A 39:3B-5.1 and 5.2”

The existing charter school transportation rules at subchapter 6A:27-3 are being amended to include renaissance schools created under the Urban Hope Act.

Another amendment was added to clarify the existing rule at subchapter 6A:27-4.1(d) spelling out the distance requirement for mandated transportation from resident districts. In this case it is a technical amendment proposed to clarify the distance limitations to comply with the governing statute – we propose to replace “less than two miles” with “two miles or less”.

Yet another amendment was added to the language for school transportation contract bid specifications at 6A:27-9.3(d)2 to mandate the inclusion of the vehicle type and capacity in the trip description The law requires that vehicle type and capacity be specified in the description of the route contained in the contract. The proposed amendment adds this language to the list of items which must be included in the route description in the contract bid specifications which then becomes a part of the contract. Previously it was included in the list of discretionary items.

Finally, we are adding a new rule at N.J.A.C. 6A:27-1.4(b) that will assist district boards of education in complying with N.J.S.A. 18A:39-1c, a newly enacted law that allows a student’s parent or guardian to sign a written statement waiving transportation services for the school year. The rule directs districts to develop procedures for implementing the waivers. Previously, districts had to provide a seat whether or not it was utilized. This law and rule allow the district to take advantage of the cost savings available when students voluntarily chose to give up their right to a seat on the bus.