To amend sections 3314.09 and 3327.01 and to enact section 3314.092 of the Revised Code to permit a school district to surrender the transportation of its resident high school students attending community schools to those community schools.

Section 1. That sections 3314.09 and 3327.01 be amended and section 3314.092 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 3314.09.  (A) As used in this section and section sections 3314.091 and 3314.092 of the Revised Code, "native student" means a student entitled to attend school in the school district under section 3313.64 or 3313.65 of the Revised Code.

(B) Except as provided in section 3314.091 or 3314.092 of the Revised Code, the board of education of each city, local, and exempted village school district shall provide transportation to and from school for its district's native students in accordance with section 3327.01 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 3314.092.  (A)(1) A school district board of education may surrender the transportation of all native high school students enrolled in community schools, in lieu of the district transporting those students pursuant to sections 3314.09 and 3327.01 of the Revised Code, if the board, not later than the first day of June of the school year prior to the school year for which the surrender is effective, submits a written notice of the surrender to the governing authority of each community school in which those native high school students are enrolled. The notice shall state that the district is planning to transport high school students during the next school year but is surrendering to the community school the transportation of its native high school students enrolled in the community school for that school year, and that the community school may apply to the department of education for funding for transporting those students or for arranging for their transportation. The surrender notice shall be valid for one school year and may be renewed each subsequent school year by a notice of renewal submitted in the same manner as the original surrender notice. If the district board submits a surrender or renewal notice in accordance with this section, the district is not required to provide transportation for its native high school students who are enrolled in the community school even though it provides transportation to its other native high school students. The surrender or renewal notice does not apply to students in grades kindergarten to eight whom the district is required to transport under sections 3314.09 and 3327.01 of the Revised Code.

(2) A surrender or renewal notice under this section shall not apply either to any community school that has entered into an agreement with the school district under division (A) of section 3314.091 of the Revised Code for any school year for which the agreement is valid or to any community school that has accepted the district's transportation responsibility under division (B) of that section for any school year for which that acceptance of responsibility is valid.

(B) The governing authority of a community school that receives a surrender notice under this section may provide or arrange transportation for high school students enrolled in the school who would otherwise be transported by the school district in which the students are entitled to attend school under that district's transportation policy, for which the governing authority may apply to the department for funding under division (C) of this section. The governing authority shall not charge a fee to any student for transportation for which the governing authority receives a payment under division (C) of this section. As used in this section, "entitled to attend school" means entitled to attend school under section 3313.64 or 3313.65 of the Revised Code.

(C)(1) If a community school governing authority transports or arranges transportation for high school students under this section, the department shall make payments to the community school for each student actually transported or for whom transportation is arranged by the community school, calculated as follows:

(a) For any fiscal year which the general assembly has specified that transportation payments to school districts be based on an across-the-board percentage of the district's payment for the previous school year, the per pupil payment to the community school shall be the following quotient:

(i) The total amount calculated for the school district in which the child is entitled to attend school for student transportation other than transportation of children with disabilities; divided by

(ii) The number of students included in the district's transportation ADM for the current fiscal year, as reported under division (B)(13) of section 3317.03 of the Revised Code, plus the number of students enrolled in the community school not counted in the district's transportation ADM who are transported under this section.

(b) For any fiscal year which the general assembly has specified that the transportation payments to school districts be calculated in accordance with division (D) of section 3317.022 of the Revised Code and any rules of the state board of education implementing that division, the payment to the community school shall be the amount so calculated that otherwise would be paid to the school district in which the student is entitled to attend school by the method of transportation the district would have used. The community school, however, is not required to use the same method to transport that student.

(2) The department shall deduct the payment under division (C)(1) of this section from the state education aid, as defined in section 3314.08 of the Revised Code, and, if necessary, the payment under sections 321.14 and 323.156 of the Revised Code, that is otherwise paid to the school district in which the student enrolled in the community school is entitled to attend school. The department shall include the number of the district's native students for whom payment is made to a community school under division (C)(1) of this section in the calculation of the district's transportation payment under division (D) of section 3317.022 of the Revised Code and the operating appropriations act.

(3) A community school shall be paid under division (C)(1) of this section only for students whose transportation to and from school is actually provided, who actually utilized transportation arranged, or for whom a payment in lieu of transportation is made by the community school's governing authority. To qualify for the payments, the community school shall report to the department, in the form and manner required by the department, data on the number of students transported or whose transportation is arranged, the number of miles traveled, cost to transport, and any other information requested by the department.

(4) A community school shall use payments received under this section solely to pay the costs of providing or arranging for the transportation of students who are eligible as specified in section 3327.01 of the Revised Code and this section, which may include payments to a parent, guardian, or other person in charge of a child in lieu of transportation.

(D) Except when arranged through payment to a parent, guardian, or person in charge of a child, transportation provided or arranged for by a community school under this section is subject to all provisions of the Revised Code, and all rules adopted under the Revised Code, pertaining to the construction, design, equipment, and operation of school buses and other vehicles transporting students to and from school. The drivers and mechanics of the vehicles are subject to all provisions of the Revised Code, and all rules adopted under the Revised Code, pertaining to drivers and mechanics of such vehicles. The community school also shall comply with sections 3313.201, 3327.02, 3327.09, and 3327.10 of the Revised Code as if it were a school district.

Sec. 3327.01.  Notwithstanding division (D) of section 3311.19 and division (D) of section 3311.52 of the Revised Code, this section and sections 3327.011, 3327.012, and 3327.02 of the Revised Code do not apply to any joint vocational or cooperative education school district.

In all city, local, and exempted village school districts where resident school pupils in grades kindergarten through eight live more than two miles from the school for which the state board of education prescribes minimum standards pursuant to division (D) of section 3301.07 of the Revised Code and to which they are assigned by the board of education of the district of residence or to and from the nonpublic or community school which they attend the board of education shall provide transportation for such pupils to and from such school except as provided in section 3327.02 of the Revised Code.

In all city, local, and exempted village school districts where pupil transportation is required under a career-technical plan approved by the state board of education under section 3313.90 of the Revised Code, for any student attending a career-technical program operated by another school district, including a joint vocational school district, as prescribed under that section, the board of education of the student's district of residence shall provide transportation from the public high school operated by that district to which the student is assigned to the career-technical program.

In all city, local, and exempted village school districts the board may provide transportation for resident school pupils in grades nine through twelve to and from the high school to which they are assigned by the board of education of the district of residence or to and from the nonpublic or community high school which they attend for which the state board of education prescribes minimum standards pursuant to division (D) of section 3301.07 of the Revised Code. However, a school district board need not transport resident community high school pupils when the board otherwise has elected to transport high school pupils under this paragraph, as long as it has surrendered transportation of community high school pupils to the community schools in which they are enrolled in accordance with section 3314.092 of the Revised Code.

A board of education shall not be required to transport elementary or high school pupils to and from a nonpublic or community school where such transportation would require more than thirty minutes of direct travel time as measured by school bus from the public school building to which the pupils would be assigned if attending the public school designated by the district of residence.

Where it is impractical to transport a pupil by school conveyance, a board of education may offer payment, in lieu of providing such transportation in accordance with section 3327.02 of the Revised Code.

In all city, local, and exempted village school districts the board shall provide transportation for all children who are so disabled that they are unable to walk to and from the school for which the state board of education prescribes minimum standards pursuant to division (D) of section 3301.07 of the Revised Code and which they attend. In case of dispute whether the child is able to walk to and from the school, the health commissioner shall be the judge of such ability. In all city, exempted village, and local school districts the board shall provide transportation to and from school or special education classes for educable mentally retarded children in accordance with standards adopted by the state board of education.

When transportation of pupils is provided the conveyance shall be run on a time schedule that shall be adopted and put in force by the board not later than ten days after the beginning of the school term.

The cost of any transportation service authorized by this section shall be paid first out of federal funds, if any, available for the purpose of pupil transportation, and secondly out of state appropriations, in accordance with regulations adopted by the state board of education.

No transportation of any pupils shall be provided by any board of education to or from any school which in the selection of pupils, faculty members, or employees, practices discrimination against any person on the grounds of race, color, religion, or national origin.

Section 2. That existing sections 3314.09 and 3327.01 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.