Iowa Admin. Code r. 281-41.412 - Transportation
Transportation of eligible individuals shall generally be provided as for other individuals, when appropriate. Specialized transportation of an eligible individual to and from a special education instructional service is a function of that service and, therefore, an appropriate expenditure of special education instructional funds generated through the weighting plan. Transportation includes travel to and from school and between schools; travel in and around school buildings; and specialized equipment, such as special or adapted buses, lifts, and ramps, if required to provide special transportation for a child with a disability.
(1)
Special arrangements. Transportation of an eligible individual
to and from a special education support service is a function of that service,
shall be specified in the IEP , and be considered an appropriate expenditure of
funds generated for special education support services. When, because of an
eligible individual's educational needs or because of the location of the
program, the IEP team determines that unique transportation arrangements are
required and the arrangements are specified in the IEP , the resident LEA shall
be required to provide one or more of the following transportation arrangements
for instructional services and the AEA for support services:
a. Transportation from the eligible
individual's residence to the location of the special education services and
back to the individual's residence, or child care placement for eligible
individuals below the age of six.
b. Special assistance or adaptations in
getting the eligible individual to and from and on and off the vehicle, en
route to and from the special education services.
c. Reimbursement of the actual costs of
transportation when by mutual agreement the parents provide transportation for
the eligible individual to and from the special education services.
d. Agencies are not required to provide
reimbursement to parents who elect to provide transportation in lieu of
agency-provided transportation.
(2)
Responsibility for
transportation.
a. The AEA shall
provide the cost of transportation of eligible individuals to and from special
education support services. The AEA shall provide the cost of transportation
necessary for the provision of special education support services to nonpublic
school eligible individuals if the cost of that transportation is in addition
to the cost of transportation provided for special education instructional
services.
b. When individuals
enrolled in nonpublic schools are enrolled in public schools to receive special
education instructional services, transportation provisions between nonpublic
and public attendance centers will be the responsibility of the school district
of residence.
c. Transportation of
individuals, when required for educational diagnostic purposes, is a special
education support service and, therefore, an appropriate expenditure of funds
generated for special education support services.
(3)
Purchase of transportation
equipment. When it is necessary for an LEA to purchase equipment to
transport eligible individuals to special education instructional services,
this equipment shall be purchased from the LEA's general fund, the physical
plant and equipment levy (PPEL) fund, or the secure an advanced vision for
education (SAVE) fund, if appropriate. The direct purchase of transportation
equipment is not an appropriate expenditure of special education instructional
funds generated through the weighting plan. A written schedule of depreciation
for this transportation equipment shall be developed by the LEA, using the
method specified in Iowa Code section
285.1(12). An
annual charge to special education instructional funds generated through the
weighting plan for depreciation of the equipment shall be made and reported as
a special education transportation cost in the LEA Certified Annual Report if
the equipment was purchased from the general fund. If the transportation
equipment was purchased using funds from the PPEL fund or SAVE fund, that
purchase is not reported as a cost from special education funds generated
through the weighting plan. Annual depreciation charges on transportation
equipment purchased with funds from the PPEL fund or SAVE fund shall be
calculated by the LEA according to the directions provided with the Annual
Transportation Report and adjusted to reflect the proportion of special
education mileage to the total annual mileage.
(4)
Lease of transportation
equipment. An LEA may elect to lease equipment to transport eligible
individuals to special education instructional services, in which case the
lease cost would be an expenditure from the PPEL fund or the SAVE fund, if
appropriate. Cost of the lease, or that portion of the lease attributable to
special education transportation expense, shall not be considered a special
education transportation cost and shall not be reported in the LEA Certified
Annual Report.
(5)
Transportation equipment safety standards. All transportation
equipment, either purchased or leased by an LEA to transport eligible
individuals to special education instructional services or provided by an AEA,
must conform to the transportation equipment safety and construction standards
contained in 281-Chapters 43 and 44.
(6)
Transportation for students in
interdistrict and intradistrict school choice programs, such as open
enrollment. The following provisions apply to the transportation of
eligible individuals who participate in school choice programs:
a. A parent who elects to have an eligible
individual attend another school within an LEA may be required by the LEA to
provide transportation to that eligible individual, even if transportation is
listed on the eligible individual's IEP as a service.
b. If a parent elects to have an eligible
individual with transportation listed as a service on the individual's IEP
attend a school in a different LEA under the open enrollment provisions of Iowa
Code section 282.18 and 281-Chapter 17, and
the resident district informs the parent it will not be providing
transportation for the eligible individual to the receiving district, a parent
who chooses to proceed with open enrollment will be deemed, as a matter of law,
to have waived the transportation listed as a service on the IEP .
c. If a parent of an eligible individual with
transportation listed as a service on the individual's IEP elects to have the
eligible individual attend a school in a different LEA under the open
enrollment provisions of Iowa Code section
282.18 and 281-Chapter 17, and
the resident district elects to provide that transportation as a service, such
transportation as a related service may be provided by the resident district,
regardless of consent granted or refused by the receiving district and
notwithstanding any other statute or rule to the contrary.
d. If a parent of an eligible individual with
transportation listed as a service on the individual's IEP elects to have the
eligible individual attend a school in a different LEA under the open
enrollment provisions of Iowa Code section
282.18 and 281-Chapter 17, and
the receiving district elects to provide that transportation as a service, such
transportation as a related service may be provided by the receiving district,
regardless of consent granted or refused by the resident district and
notwithstanding any other statute or rule to the contrary, but the costs of
such transportation shall not be paid by the individual's resident
district.
e. Ifan eligible
individual's placement team proposes placement in a district other than the
district of residence based on a tuition arrangement, regardless of whether the
eligible individual's IEP lists transportation as a related service, and the
other district agrees to accept the eligible individual as an open enrollment
student but not as a tuition student, the receiving district must provide
transportation as a related service, regardless of consent granted or refused
by the receiving district and notwithstanding any other statute or rule to the
contrary.
f. Except as expressly
provided in this subrule, nothing in this subrule creates or expands any right,
license, or privilege concerning transportation of persons who are not eligible
individuals or transportation of eligible individuals who do not have
transportation listed as a service on an IEP .
Notes
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