Effective April 1, 2022, the Ohio Department of Education’s Office of Field Services and Transportation will have a new compliance monitoring system for school district pupil transportation services. This system is designed to allow monitoring and enforcement of transportation responsibilities as outlined in state law – specifically, the requirement to transport all eligible students, including those who attend private or community/charter schools.

With recent bus driver staffing shortages, it is critical that school districts understand the new monitoring process and their obligations related to pupil transportation to avoid any reduction in transportation funding.

As part of the new monitoring process, school districts are required to complete a list of assurances and submit it to the Office of Field Services and Transportation no later than August 1 prior to each school year. The new system also includes a formal complaint process for individuals – namely, parents or community or nonpublic schools – to report a school district(s) for non-compliance. The complaint process includes reporting schools for the following issues/concerns regarding non-compliance:

The school district is not providing transportation to those eligible K-8 community and/or nonpublic school students living less than a 30-minute drive from the school in which the student would attend if he/she were attending the public school district of residence.
The school district is not providing transportation for all eligible K-8 students who live more than two miles from the school they attend.
Special education transportation should be provided to any eligible student in preschool through grade 12. The school district is not providing transportation to students with disabilities in accordance with Ohio Administrative Code 3301-51-10.
The school district of residence is not providing transportation from the public high school to career technical education programs.
The school district is not providing transportation for the eligible community and/or nonpublic K-8 students each day the community and/or nonpublic schools are in session.
If a school district received the start and end times (bell schedule) from the community and/or nonpublic schools by April 1, it did not develop a transportation plan within 60 days of receiving the start and end times.
The school district is not able to deliver eligible students to their respective school buildings as outlined in law: no earlier than 30 minutes prior to the start of school; and pick up no later than 30 minutes after the school day ends.
An agreement has not been developed to provide another mode of transportation, such as mass transit systems, for K-8 students between the community or nonpublic schools and the school district.
If an eligible student enrolled after July 1, the school district did not develop a transportation plan within 14 business days of receiving a request for transportation services from the student’s parent or guardian.
According to Ohio Revised Code 3327.02, the district did not declare transportation of students impractical within 30 calendar days prior to the first day of instruction or within 14 days of enrollment.
The school district time schedule was adopted later than 10 days after the school year began.

Once a complaint is filed, the Office of Field Services and Transportation will reach out to the school district within three (3) business days and begin its investigation.

The investigation will be completed within 10 business days after the receiving the complaint and will focus on whether the district has been out of compliance for a consistent or prolonged period of time. “Prolonged” is defined as 10 consecutive school days of non-compliance; “consistent” is defined as 10 total school days of non-compliance in any given semester.

If there is a finding of non-compliance, the Office of Field Services and Transportation will submit to the Office of Budget and School Finance the number of days to be deducted from the district’s transportation funds in accordance with R.C. 3327.021. Any district found to be non-compliant may be required to undergo additional review by the Office of Field Services and Transportation.