TRANSPORTATION
This chapter examines the Raymondville Independent School District's (RISD's) Transportation operations in two sections:
The primary objective of effective school transportation is to provide timely, efficient and safe transportation services to all students.
BACKGROUND
The Texas Education Code (TEC) authorizes school districts to provide student transportation services between school and home, from school to career and technology training destinations, and for extracurricular activities. The federal Individual with Disabilities Education Act further requires districts to provide transportation services to students who must travel to receive special education services.
School districts are eligible to receive state funding for the transportation of regular and special education students based on funding rules established by the Texas Legislature. TEC states that districts are eligible to receive state funding for the transportation of regular and special education students between home and school and of Career and Technology students to and from vocational training locations. A district may also receive an additional amount of up to 10 percent of its regular transportation allotment to be used for the transportation of children living within two miles of the school they attend who would be subject to hazardous traffic conditions if they walked to school.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) reimburses districts for qualifying expenses according to a formula based on linear density as specified by the TEC for regular home-to-school transportation services. Linear density is the average number of regular eligible students transported daily divided by the daily route miles traveled. TEA uses this calculation to assign each school district to one of seven groups eligible to receive a different maximum per-mile reimbursement. TEA evaluates these group assignments every two years by recalculating linear densities with data from the first of the previous two school years.