§ 20-27-9-5 — Use of special purpose bus; operator requirements

Indiana § 20-27-9-5

• Jurisdiction: Indiana
• Title 20: EDUCATION
• Art. 27: SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION
• Ch. 9: Use of School Buses

Text

(a) A special purpose bus or an appropriate
vehicle may be used:
(1) by a school corporation to provide regular transportation of a
student between one (1) school and another school or between the
student's residence and the school;
(2) to transport students and their supervisors, including coaches,
managers, and sponsors to athletic or other extracurricular school
activities and field trips;
(3) by a school corporation to provide transportation between an
individual's residence and the school for an individual enrolled in
a special program for the habilitation or rehabilitation of persons
with a developmental or physical disability, and, if applicable, the
individual's sibling;
(4) to transport homeless students under IC 20-27-12;
(5) by a school corporation to provide regular transportation of an
individual described in section 4 or 7 of this chapter between the
individual's residence and the school; and
(6) to transport students to career and technical education
programs under IC 20-27-12.1.
(b) The mileage limitation of section 3 of this chapter does not apply
to special purpose buses.
(c) The operator of a special purpose bus or appropriate vehicle
must be at least twenty-one (21) years of age, be authorized by the
school corporation, pass an expanded criminal history check and
expanded child protection index check as provided under IC 20-26-5-10, and meet the following requirements:
(1) Except as provided in subdivision (2)(B) and in addition to the
license required under this subdivision, if the special purpose bus
has a capacity of less than sixteen (16) passengers, the operator
must hold a valid:
(A) operator's;
(B) chauffeur's;
(C) public passenger chauffeur's; or
(D) commercial driver's;
license.
(2) If the special purpose bus:
(A) has a capacity of more than fifteen (15) passengers; or
(B) is used to provide transportation to an individual described
in subsection (a)(3) or (a)(5);
the operator must meet the requirements for a school bus driver
set out in IC 20-27-8.
(d) A special purpose bus is not required to be constructed,
equipped, or painted as specified for school buses under this article or
by the rules of the committee.
(e) An owner or operator of a special purpose bus, other than a
special purpose bus owned or operated by a school corporation or a
nonpublic school, is subject to IC 8-2.1.
[Pre-2005 Elementary and Secondary Education
Recodification Citation: 20-9.1-5-2.6.]

Legislative History

As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.11. Amended by P.L.191-2006, SEC.1; P.L.99-2007, SEC.171; P.L.146-2009, SEC.6; P.L.182-2009(ss), SEC.318; P.L.228-2017, SEC.2; P.L.144-2019, SEC.14; P.L.270-2019, SEC.21; P.L.155-2020, SEC.10; P.L.168-2022, SEC.9.