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Education committee holds transportation overhaul after heated testimony on safety, funding and virtual-student reimbursements
Summary
House Bill 293, which would simplify school-transportation reimbursement to a uniform 85% mileage rate, restore $7.5 million, and permit inspected 'authorized' non-school-bus vehicles, was held in committee to March 5 after extensive testimony on safety, funding winners and losers, and virtual-school reimbursements.
Representative Dan Garner and Representative Jack Nelson presented House Bill 293 to the House Committee on Education as a rewrite of Idaho’s school-transportation funding rules. The proposal would remove the current block-grant/enrollment-based elements and reimburse districts at 85% of mileage, restore $7.5 million to transportation funding, and add a new "authorized vehicle" category that would allow districts to use inspected, identified non–school-bus vehicles (for example, minivans or passenger cars) for some small-group or specialized trips if certain training and inspection requirements are met.
Supporters said the bill would make reimbursements more equitable and predictable and remove oddities in the current formula that resulted in…
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