20-10-141. Schedule of maximum reimbursement by mileage rates. (1) The following mileage rates for school transportation constitute the maximum reimbursement to districts for school transportation from state and county sources of transportation revenue under the provisions of 20-10-145 and 20-10-146. These rates may not limit the amount that a district may budget in its transportation fund budget in order to provide for the estimated and necessary cost of school transportation during the ensuing school fiscal year. All bus miles traveled on bus routes approved by the county transportation committee are reimbursable. Nonbus mileage is reimbursable for a vehicle driven by a bus driver to and from an overnight location of a school bus when the location is more than 10 miles from the school. A district may approve additional bus or nonbus miles within its own district or approved service area but may not claim reimbursement for the mileage. Any vehicle, the operation of which is reimbursed for bus mileage under the rate provisions of this schedule, must be a school bus, as defined by this title, driven by a qualified driver on a bus route approved by the county transportation committee and the superintendent of public instruction.
     (2) The rate per bus mile traveled must be determined in accordance with the following schedule when the weighted ridership assigned to a bus route is not less than one-half of the rated capacity of the school bus:
     (a) 85 cents per bus mile for a school bus with a rated capacity of not more than 45 passenger seating positions; and
     (b) when the rated capacity is more than 45 passenger seating positions, an additional 2.13 cents per bus mile for each additional passenger seating position in the rated capacity in excess of 45 must be added to a base rate of 85 cents per bus mile.
     (3) Reimbursement for nonbus mileage provided for in subsection (1) may not exceed 50% of the maximum reimbursement rate determined under subsection (2).
     (4) When the weighted ridership assigned to a bus route is less than one-half of the rated capacity of the school bus, the rate per bus mile traveled must be computed as follows:
     (a) determine the weighted ridership assigned to the bus route;
     (b) multiply the number determined in subsection (4)(a) by two; and
     (c) use the adjusted rated capacity determined in subsection (4)(b) as the rated capacity of the bus to determine the rate per bus mile traveled from the rate schedule in subsection (2).
     (5) The rated capacity is the number of passenger seating positions of a school bus as determined under the policy adopted by the board of public education. If modification of a school bus to accommodate pupils with disabilities reduces the rated capacity of the bus, the reimbursement to a district for pupil transportation is based on the rated capacity of the bus prior to modification.
     (6) The number of pupils riding the school bus may not exceed the passenger seating positions of the bus.

     History: En. 75-7018 by Sec. 295, Ch. 5, L. 1971; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 469, L. 1975; amd. Sec. 22, Ch. 266, L. 1977; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 529, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 75-7018; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 590, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 454, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 515, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 559, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 344, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 10, Ch. 711, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 298, L. 1995.