281—17.8(282) Transportation.

1. 17.8(1)  Parent responsibilities. The parent/guardian of a pupil who has been accepted for open enrollment is to be responsible to transport the pupil without reimbursement, except as provided in subrule 17.8(2), to a point on a regular school bus route of the receiving district as defined in Iowa Code section 282.18(8)“a.” A receiving district may send buses into a resident district solely for the purpose of transporting an open enrollment pupil if the boards of both the sending and receiving districts agree to this arrangement. Bus routes that are outside the boundary of the receiving district that have been authorized by an area education agency board of directors, as provided by Iowa Code section 285.9(3), may be used to transport open enrollment pupils if boards of directors of the resident and receiving districts have both acted to approve such an arrangement. Bus routes that have been established by the receiving district for the purpose of transporting nonpublic school or special education pupils that operate in the resident district of an open enrollment pupil cannot be utilized for the transportation of such pupil for the portion of the route that is within the resident district unless the boards of directors of the resident and receiving districts have both acted to approve such an arrangement. Bus routes transporting pupils for the purpose of whole-grade sharing cannot be used to transport open enrollment pupils for the portion of the route that is within the resident district unless the boards of directors of the resident and receiving districts have both acted to approve such an arrangement.
2. 17.8(2)  Economic qualifications, eligibility and provisions for transportation assistance. Open enrollment pupils who meet the economic eligibility provisions established by the department of education will receive transportation assistance from their resident district under the terms and conditions established by the department and state board of education as outlined in Iowa Code section 282.18(8)“c.” The resident district may withhold from the amount it is required to pay to a receiving district for an open enrollment pupil the actual amount or the average cost per pupil transported amount it pays for transportation assistance, whichever is the lesser amount. A sending district shall not be responsible for paying a parent or guardian pursuant to this subrule if the pupil is transported by the receiving district to and from school in the receiving district pursuant to subrule 17.8(3).
3. 17.8(3)  Exception to subrule 17.8(1). The provisions about transportation in another district provided by subrule 17.8(1) are subject to the exceptions contained in Iowa Code section 282.18(8)“b” and “c.”

[ARC 7786C, IAB 4/17/24, effective 5/22/24; ARC 9101C, IAB 4/16/25, effective 5/21/25]