School Finance: Transportation

Special Education Transportation Pilot

January 10, 2006

In FY06, $300,000 was appropriated to support a pilot program for incentive, start up grants to educational collaboratives to provide transportation services to students attending out of district private placements. The purpose of the grant program is to test the concept that transportation of students to out-of district placements can be accomplished at a lower cost and with improved quality of service by delegating the planning and contracting for such transportation to educational collaboratives. The collaborative would be responsible for the transportation of students to all out-of-district programs located within its catchment area.

The three successful grant recipients are the Assabet Valley Collaborative, the Accept Metrowest Educational Collaborative and the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative. These three collaboratives will be working with local districts and private schools for the remainder of this fiscal year to collect data, develop routes and provide recommendations for future implementation. The pilot was conceived as a three year project that would require appropriations in the two subsequent years.