SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 1991
91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES NAEGER, CUNNINGHAM, PHILLIPS, HUNTER (Co-sponsors),
DOLAN, REINHART AND SCHWAB.
Read 1st time February 19, 2002, and 1000 copies ordered printed.
TED WEDEL, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 162.621, 163.161, and 167.231, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof five new sections relating to the transportation of pupils to all schools.
Section A. Sections 162.621, 163.161, and 167.231, RSMo, are repealed and five new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 135.755, 162.621, 163.161, 167.231, and 167.235, to read as follows:
135.755. Beginning January 1, 2003, and for all taxable years thereafter, any person residing in this state who pays a fee required pursuant to section 167.235, RSMo, for the transportation of any nonpublic school student shall receive a tax credit which shall be known as the "School Transportation Credit". The school transportation credit shall be equal to the total amount of all fees paid in a taxable year pursuant to section 167.235, RSMo, and such credit may be applied to any taxes due for such taxable year pursuant to chapter 143, RSMo, excluding withholding tax imposed by sections 143.191 to 143.265, RSMo. The director of revenue shall promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary to implement the provisions of this section. No rule or portion of a rule promulgated pursuant to the authority of this section shall become effective unless it has been promulgated pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo.
162.621. 1. The board of education shall have general and supervising control, government and management of the public schools and public school property of the district in the city and shall exercise generally all powers in the administration of the public school system [therein] in the district. The board of education has all the powers of other school districts under the laws of this state except as [herein] provided in sections 162.571 to 162.666 and shall perform all duties required by general laws of school districts so far as they are applicable to the public school affairs of the city and are consistent with [this law] sections 162.571 to 162.666. It shall appoint the officers, agents and employees it deems necessary and proper and fix their compensation. The board of education may:
(1) Make, amend and repeal rules and bylaws for its meetings and proceedings, for the government, regulation and management of the public schools and school property in the city, for the transaction of its business, and the examination, qualification and employment of teachers, which rules and bylaws are binding on the board of education and all parties dealing with it until formally repealed;
(2) Fix the time of its meetings;
(3) Provide for special and standing committees;
(4) Levy taxes authorized by law for school purposes;
(5) Invest the funds of the district;
(6) Purchase and hold all property, real and personal, deemed by it necessary for the purposes of public education;
(7) Build and construct improvements for such purposes, and sell the same;
(8) Provide for the gratuitous transportation of pupils to and from public, private, and parochial schools in cases where by reason of special circumstances pupils are required to attend schools at unusual distances from their residences.
2. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the powers granted in subsection 1 of this section shall be vested, in the manner provided in section 162.1100, in the special administrative board of the transitional school district containing the city not within a county if the school district loses its accreditation from the state board of education. Thereafter, such powers shall immediately revert to the board of directors of the school district for any period of time for which no transitional school district containing the city not within a county is in existence. The board of directors of the school district shall, at all times, retain auditing and public reporting powers.
163.161. 1. Any school district which makes provision for transporting pupils as provided in section 162.621, RSMo, and sections 167.231 and 167.241, RSMo, shall receive state aid for the ensuing year for such transportation on the basis of the cost of pupil transportation services provided the current year. A district shall receive, pursuant to section 163.031, an amount not greater than seventy-five percent of the allowable costs of providing public school pupil transportation services to and from school and to and from public accredited vocational courses, and an amount not greater than one hundred percent of allowable additional costs for providing transportation services to pupils who attend private or parochial schools, and shall not receive an amount per pupil greater than one hundred twenty-five percent of the state average approved cost per pupil transported the second preceding school year, except when the state board of education determines that sufficient circumstances exist to authorize amounts in excess of the one hundred twenty-five percent of the state average approved cost per pupil transported the second previous year.
2. The state board of education shall determine public school district route approval procedures to be used by each public school district board of education to approve all bus routes or portions of routes and determine the total miles each public school district needs for safe and cost-efficient transportation of the pupils and the state board of education shall determine allowable costs and the additional allowable costs for the transportation of pupils attending private or parochial school. No state aid shall be paid for the costs of transporting pupils living less than one mile from the school. However, if the state board of education determines that circumstances exist where no appreciable additional expenses are incurred in transporting pupils living less than one mile from school, such pupils may be transported without increasing or diminishing the district's entitlement to state aid for transportation.
3. State aid for transporting handicapped and severely handicapped students attending classes within the school district or in a nearby district under a contractual arrangement shall be paid in accordance with the provisions of section 163.031 and an amount equal to seventy-five percent of the additional cost of transporting handicapped and severely handicapped students above the average per pupil cost of transporting all students of the district shall be apportioned pursuant to section 163.031 where such special transportation is approved in advance by the department of elementary and secondary education. State aid for transportation of handicapped and severely handicapped children in a special school district shall be seventy-five percent of allowable costs as determined by the state board of education which may for sufficient reason authorize amounts in excess of one hundred twenty-five percent of the state average approved cost per pupil transported the second previous year. Except as provided in subsection 1 of this section, in no event shall state transportation aid exceed seventy-five percent of the total allowable cost of transporting all pupils eligible to be transported; provided that no district shall receive reduced reimbursement for costs of transportation of handicapped and severely handicapped children based upon inefficiency.
4. No state transportation aid received pursuant to section 163.031 shall be used to purchase any school bus manufactured prior to April 1, 1977, that does not meet the federal motor vehicle safety standards.
167.231. 1. Within all school districts except metropolitan districts the board of education shall provide transportation to and from school for all pupils attending public, private, and parochial schools living more than three and one-half miles from such school and may provide transportation for all pupils. State aid for transportation shall be paid as provided in section 163.161, RSMo, only on the basis of the cost of pupil transportation for those pupils living one mile or more from school, including transportation provided to and from publicly operated university laboratory schools and private and parochial schools. The board of education may provide transportation for pupils living less than one mile from school at the expense of the district and may prescribe reasonable rules and regulations as to eligibility of pupils for transportation. If no increase in the tax levy of the school district is required to provide transportation for pupils living less than one mile from the school, the board may transport [said] such pupils. If an increase in the tax levy of the school district is required to provide transportation for pupils living less than one mile from school, the board shall submit the question at a public election. If a two-thirds majority of the voters voting on the question at the election are in favor of providing the transportation, the board shall arrange and provide [therefor] such transportation.
2. The proposal and the ballots may be in substantially the following form:
Shall the board of education of the ........ school district provide transportation at the expense of the district for pupils living less than one mile from a public, private, or parochial school and be authorized to levy an additional tax of ........ cents on the one hundred dollars assessed valuation to provide funds to pay for such transportation service?
YES NO
(If you are in favor of the proposition (or question), place an X in the box opposite "YES". If you are opposed to the proposition (or question), place an X in the box opposite "NO".)
3. The board of education of any school district may provide transportation to and from any school for any public, private, or parochial school pupil not otherwise eligible for transportation under the provisions of state law, and may prescribe reasonable rules and regulations as to eligibility for transportation, if the parents or guardian of the pupil agree in writing to pay the actual cost of transporting the pupil. The minimum charge would be the actual cost of transporting the pupil for ninety school days, which actual cost is to be determined by the average per pupil cost of transporting children in the school district during the preceding school year. The full actual cost shall be paid by the parent or guardian of the pupil and shall not be paid out of any state school aid funds or out of any other revenues of the school district. The cost of transportation may be paid in installments, and the board of education shall establish the cost of the transportation and the time or times and method of payment.
167.235. 1. If the board of education of the school district provides transportation to public school students pursuant to section 162.621, RSMo, then the board shall provide transportation for all elementary and secondary students who reside and attend school within the boundaries of such school district. The school district may charge a fee for the transportation of nonpublic school students; provided, however, the fee shall not exceed the rate allowed for public school students as determined pursuant to the provisions of section 163.161, RSMo.
2. If a parent or guardian provides transportation for a child, where no public or contracted pupil transportation service is available for the purpose of transporting that child to a private, parochial, or public school outside of the school district in which the child resides, then the parent or guardian upon a showing of proof to the department of revenue shall receive a tax credit for those transportation costs to a school outside of the district pursuant to section 135.755, RSMo, in an amount not to exceed the amount established by the school district where the child resides for transportation within the district.
3. Nothing in this section shall require any school district to provide transportation to any pupil outside of such
school district's boundaries.
Missouri House of Representatives