TRANSPORTATION

WELCOME TO PUPIL TRANSPORTATION

Welcome to the 21st century of pupil transportation. Since the spring of 2005, the pupil transportation department has been upgrading its technology to better serve students, staff and the public. We're proud to say that we're not done upgrading yet, but you will definitely notice a change for the better each time we do.

SAFETY FIRST

School transportation services are designed with the "Safety First" concept in mind. All of our services meet or exceed local, state and national standards. This includes the toughest of scrutiny for bus drivers and high quality maintenance and four-star inspections in accordance with state statutes and regulations.

Students are eligible for transportation services to Cincinnati Public Schools, non-public and charter schools when the following conditions are met:

    • The student's legal residence is located within the legal boundary of the Cincinnati Public School District.

    • The distance between the student's legal residence and the school of attendance, when measured by the most direct public roads, is a minimum of 1 mile for yellow bus or a minimum of 1 1/4 mile for Metro. All distance measurements used to determine eligibility shall be calculated by CPS' Pupil Transportation routing system.

    • The student is enrolled in grades kingergarten-12. Preschool disability students may be eligible for transportation. Contact the Early Childhood Department for information.

    • An elementary student attending a neighborhood school must reside within that school's attendance area.

    • Students with special needs who are assigned by the Department of Student Services to schools other than their neighborhood schools shall be considered within the assigned schools' transportation service areas.

    • "Transportation as a Related Service" must be specified within the student's Individualized Education Plan (I.E.P.) by the Student Services Department.

    • It takes less than 30 minutes to travel directly from the student's assigned neighborhood school to the school of attendance.

    • The transportation service for the student has not been suspended as a result of inappropriate behavior.

Transportation Service Areas

Transportation service areas may have an impact on determining a student's transportation eligibility. Service areas are described as:

Elementary Neighborhood Schools — Transportation service is offered within the established attendance boundary of the school.

Elementary Schools with Magnet Programs —

Each neighborhood school has an area assignment.

    • Transportation service is provided to a student attending a magnet program within the assigned area.

Non-Public and Charter Schools — Transportation is provided to non-public and charter students who meet eligibility distance criteria and who reside within the Cincinnati Public School District.

Parent Reimbursement

As routing and scheduling for each school year is done, it may be determined that some students are impractical to transport. They could be because there are not enough students to justify a whole bus route, it is not cost effective to adjust a route for a single student or the route does not meet state time allowances. Ohio law allows a Board of Education to declare transportation impractical under these conditions.

When this happens, parents/guardians are eligible to receive money to help cover the cost of transporting their children to school. This is a state program that provides reimbursement only when both of these criteria are met: 1) the student is eligible for transportation but is deemed impractical to transport by CPS, and 2) the student lives one mile or more from the school.

The amount of this payment is set annually by the Ohio Department of Education, near the end of the school year (usually in May). The payment rate for 2015-16 was $250.00 per student.

Process

* Parents are notified in writing by the Pupil Transportation Branch each fall (August and October) that the Board of Education has declared that transportation is impractical for their child(ren).

* Parents are required to declare their agreement or disagreement in writing by the specified date.

* Parents are notified in writing that their response to the declaration has been received.

* The Board of Education will mail payment checks in the amount specified by the Ohio Department of Education for payment in lieu of service in June.

* Parents who have agreed with the impratical-to-transport status and who have not received their payment check by July 1 should contact the Pupil Transportation Branch (363-0330).

The process is repeated each year. Parents & guardians have an opportunity to dispute the decision for reimbursement and may request or download the form to do so.