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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 13, 2021 11:41 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Greg Rothman and Rep. Clint Owlett |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | School Transportation Services |
| In the near future, we plan to introduce legislation that would help provide further assistance to our school districts and school bus contractors, as they attempt to maintain safe and efficient pupil transportation services during this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. As you are aware, Act 13 of 2020 contained provisions that allowed school districts to renegotiate their contracts with school bus contractors in order to continue to pay them for such costs as administration, equipment, and employee salary and benefits. Act 13 also provided that school districts who continued to pay school bus contractors or operated their own school buses, were eligible for reimbursement at the same level they would have received if the schools had not shut down. However, the provisions included in Act 13 applied to only the 2019-20 school year. It is very costly and time consuming to train these highly-skilled drivers, and if we would lose them, student transportation would be in peril. Should these companies have to sell their buses or close entirely, we would not be able to swiftly ensure these vital and essential services for the safe transport of students. Because of the continued, evolving situation relating to COVID-19, wherein a school may be open for in-person instruction one week and closed the next, we believe provisions similar to what were included in Act 13 must be revisited to ensure that pupil transportation services are available and ready to transport our children to and from school when necessary. Please join us in co-sponsoring this important legislation. |