§ 1502 — Passengers on school buses

§ 1502. Passengers on school buses. 1. Boards of education of school\ndistricts located entirely or partially in any county with less than two\nhundred thousand population or any town which has a population of less\nthan one hundred fifty persons per square mile are hereby authorized to\npermit the following persons to ride as passengers on school buses with\npupils: residents who are enrolled in education or training programs,\nincluding, but not limited to, alternative education programs,\nvocational, apprenticeship and job training programs, and on-the-job\ntraining; children under the age of five traveling between home and day\ncare or preschool programs; and employees of school districts or other\neducational or training institutions.\n 2. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, the\nboard of education of any school district located entirely or partially\nin any county with less than two hundred thousand population or any town\nwhich has a population of less than one hundred fifty persons per square\nmile is hereby authorized and empowered, in order to protect the\ninterests of pupils, to adopt rules and regulations under which any\nperson would be permitted to ride as a passenger on any school bus that\nprovides pupil transportation for such district during the hours such\nbus is transporting pupils to and from classes providing:\n a. such person makes application to the school district, in accordance\nwith the rules and regulations of the district, and such application is\napproved by the board of education;\n b. there is regularly sufficient space on such school bus to permit\nall pupils to be seated while such bus is in operation;\n c. any amount charged such person does not exceed the cost to the\ndistrict for transporting a pupil the same distance.\n 3. Any rules and regulations adopted pursuant to the provisions of\nthis section may, among other things, establish the maximum number of\npersons other than pupils that may ride any bus.\n 4. Any person authorized in subdivision one of this section to ride as\na passenger on school buses with pupils, may also ride on buses not\nowned by the school district but used for transportation of pupils\npursuant to contract, provided the school district and the owner of the\nbus agree upon any amount to be charged such person. Such agreement may\ninclude an amount to be paid to the bus owner or school district.\n 5. In the event any person is authorized to ride on school buses\npursuant to the provisions of this section, the school district shall\nmaintain records indicating the number of such trips and any revenues\ncollected therefrom. Any funds collected for such non-pupil\ntransportation as authorized by this section shall be credited to an\naccount so designated.\n