School Finance: Transportation
Pupil Transportation Guide: A Guide for Massachusetts School Administrators
August 29, 2003
The following is a partial summary of current statutory requirements in the Massachusetts General Laws (M.G.L.) as they pertain to pupil transportation services in the Commonwealth. The statutes listed include school committee responsibilities, educational program requirements, and reimbursement programs. Statutes should be consulted in their entirety.
- School Committee Responsibilities
- Chapter 71, Section 6, Education in Out-of-Town High Schools
- Chapter 71, Section 37H, Publication of School Committee Rules and Regulations Relative to the Conduct of Teachers and Students
- Chapter 71, Section 47, Athletic Programs; School Organizations; Regulations 1
- Chapter 71, Section 48A, School Safety Patrols (Purchase of Traffic Safety Belts)
- Chapter 71, Section 68. Duty of Towns to Maintain Schools; Pupil Transportation; School Building Committee Representation
- Chapter 71, Section 71A, Safety Stations on Highways
- Chapter 71B, Section 8. Transportation
- Chapter 74, Section 8A, Transportation of Students
- Chapter 76, Section 1. Regulation of School Attendance; Private School Transportation
- Chapter 76, Section 14, Island Children
- Transportation for Homeless Children, Federal Law (McKinney Act)
See updated requirements at http://www.doe.mass.edu/hssss/haa/02_3.html
If a town of less than five hundred families or householders, according to
such census, does not maintain a public high school offering four years of
instruction, it shall pay the tuition of any pupil who resides therein and
obtains from its school committee a certificate to attend a high school of
another town included in the list of high schools approved for this purpose by
the department.Whenever, in the judgement of the department, it is expedient
that such a pupil should board in the town of attendance the town of residence
may, through its school committee pay toward such board, in lieu of
transportation, such sum as the said committee may fix.
The superintendent of every school district shall publish the district's
policies pertaining to the conduct of teachers and students. Said policies
shall prohibit the use of any tobacco products within the school buildings, the
school facilities or on the school grounds or on school buses by any
individual, including school personnel. Copies of these policies shall be
provided to any person upon request and without cost by any principal of every
school within the district.
Each school district's policies pertaining to the conduct of students shall include the following: disciplinary proceedings, including procedures assuring due process; standards and procedures for suspension and expulsion of students; procedures pertaining to discipline of students with special needs; standards and procedures to assure school building security and safety of students and school personnel; and the disciplinary measures to be taken in cases involving the possession or use of illegal substances or weapons, the use of force, vandalism, or violation of other student's civil rights.
Cities and towns may appropriate for the employment of coaches to
supervise in public schools physical education, athletics, sports, games and
play, and for the transportation and expenses of public school athletic teams,
coaches, cheerleaders, bands and any other groups composed of public school
pupils which bear the school name and are under the control of the school
committee within and without the commonwealth to places where athletic contests
or physical education, sports, games, plays, musical festivals, competition or
other events are held
School committees shall have the authority to organize school safety patrols, consisting of pupils, whose functions shall be to encourage pupils to cross highways at designated crossings and when conditions are safe, to assist
drivers of school buses in maintaining safety rules and to protect pupils who
are boarding or alighting from such buses; and may adopt regulations relative
to the flagging or signaling of school buses by members of said safety patrols. Said committees may make expenditures, from funds appropriated for school purposes, for the purchase of traffic belts, so called, to be used by the safety patrol leaders in safeguarding the passage of pupils to and from school. Nothing herein contained shall authorize a safety patrol member to direct vehicular traffic, provided, however, that such patrol member may use a flag or other approved signal to indicate to a driver that school children are crossing or are about to cross the street. No patrol member shall be stationed in that portion of the highway intended for the use of vehicular traffic, but shall perform his duties from the curb and sidewalk areas. No liability shall attach either to the school committees or any individual member thereof, a superintendent, teacher, patrol member, or parent of a patrol member, or other school authority by virtue of the organization, maintenance or operation of a safety patrol under authority of this section
Every town shall provide and maintain a sufficient number of schoolhouses,
properly furnished and conveniently situated for the accommodation of all
children therein entitled to attend the public schools. If the distance between
a child's residence and the school he is entitled to attend exceeds two miles
and the nearest school bus stop is more than one mile from such residence and
the school committee declines to furnish transportation, the department, upon
appeal of the parent or guardian of the child, may require the town to furnish
transportation for children in grades kindergarten through six for a part or
for all of the distance between such residence and the school. If said distance
exceeds three miles, and the distance between the child's residence and a
school in an adjoining town giving substantially equivalent instruction is less
than three miles, and the school committee declines to pay for tuition in such
nearer school, and for transportation in case the distance thereto exceeds two
miles, the department, upon like appeal, may require the town of residence to
pay for tuition in, and if necessary provide for transportation for a part or
for the whole of said distance to such nearer school for children in grades
kindergarten through six, and if necessary provide transportation for a part or
for the whole of said distance to such nearer school for children in said
grades. Nothing contained in the preceding two sentences shall be construed to
limit the obligation of regional school districts to provide transportation for
all school children in grades kindergarten through twelve, pursuant to the
provisions in section sixteen C of the chapter. No school committee shall be
compelled to furnish transportation on a private way. The school committee,
unless the town otherwise directs, shall have general charge and
superintendence of the schoolhouses, shall keep them in good order, and shall
at the expense of the town, procure a suitable place for the schools, if there
is no schoolhouse, and provide fuel and all other things necessary for the
comfort of the pupils. Whenever a town shall undertake to provide a
schoolhouse, the town shall appoint at least one member of the school
committee, or its designee, to serve on the agency, board or committee to which
the planning and construction or other acquisition of such schoolhouse is
delegated.Amended by St.1934, c.97, s.1; St.1977,c.158; St.1991, c.138,
s.133.
A school committee may, subject, however, to all other provisions of law,
designate the locations for the erection of highway safety stations for
children awaiting a school bus; provided that such locations have been approved
by the school superintendent, or as his designee, the school transportation
officer. A school committee may order the discontinuance of the use of any
such station by the children if it is not constructed of durable material with
a floor of concrete raised above ground level, or is not kept clean, well
painted, free of snow, and suitably maintained at all times.
If a school age child with special needs attends a school approved by the department within or without the city or town of residence of the parent or guardian, the school committee of the town where the child resides may be
required by the department to provide transportation once each day including
weekends where applicable to and from such school while the child is in
attendance. The city or town providing transportation under this section shall be reimbursed according to the provisions of section fourteen.
A town where a person resides who is admitted to a day school in another town under section seven, shall, through its school committee, when necessary,
provide for the transportation of such person, and subject to appropriation be
entitled to state reimbursement to the extent of fifty percent of the amount so expended; provided, that such a town where a person is placed by the department of social services or the trustees of the Massachusetts training schools who is admitted as aforesaid to a day school in another town shall similarly provide for the transportation of such pupil to such school and shall be entitled to state reimbursement to the full extent of the amounts so expended; provided further, that no transportation shall be provided for, or reimbursement made on account of, any pupil who resides less than one and one-half miles from the school which he attends. A transportation of a person who has completed the twelfth grade of school or the equivalent thereto.
.In order to protect children from the hazards of traffic and promote their safety, cities and towns may appropriate money for conveying pupils to and from any schools approved under this section.
Except as herein provided, pupils who attend approved private schools of
elementary and high school grades shall be entitled to the same rights and
privileges as to transportation to and from school as are provided by law for
pupils of public schools and shall not be denied such transportation because
their attendance is in a school which is conducted under religious auspices or
includes religious instruction in its curriculum. Each school committee shall
provide transportation for any pupil attending such an approved private school
within the boundaries of the school district, provided, however, that the
distance between said pupil's residence and the private school said pupil
attends exceeds two miles or such other minimum distance as may be established
by the school committee for transportation of public school students. Any
school committee which is required by law to transport any pupil attending an
approved private school beyond the boundaries of the school district shall not
be required to do so further than the distance from the residence of such pupil to the public school he is entitled to attend
The department of education may provide transportation to and from school, or board in place thereof, for such children of school age as live upon islands within the commonwealth that are without schools, in cases where the local authorities are not required to by law to provide such transportation.
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