Bill Text: MN SF2553 | 2011-2012 | 87th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: School district transportation aid provisions modification

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Independent 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-03-23 - Referred to Education [SF2553 Detail]

Download: Minnesota-2011-SF2553-Introduced.html

1.1A bill for an act
1.2relating to education finance; modifying certain transportation aid provisions;
1.3amending Minnesota Statutes 2011 Supplement, section 123B.92, subdivision 5.
1.4BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5    Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2011 Supplement, section 123B.92, subdivision 5, is
1.6amended to read:
1.7    Subd. 5. District reports. (a) Each district must report data to the department as
1.8required by the department to account for transportation expenditures.
1.9(b) Salaries and fringe benefits of district employees whose primary duties are
1.10other than transportation, including central office administrators and staff, building
1.11administrators and staff, teachers, social workers, school nurses, and instructional aides,
1.12must not be included in a district's transportation expenditures, except that a district may
1.13include salaries and benefits according to paragraph (c) for (1) an employee designated
1.14as the district transportation director, (2) an employee providing direct support to the
1.15transportation director, or (3) an employee providing direct transportation services such as
1.16a bus driver or bus aide.
1.17(c) Salaries and fringe benefits of the district employees listed in paragraph (b),
1.18clauses (1), (2), and (3), who work part time in transportation and part time in other areas
1.19must not be included in a district's transportation expenditures unless the district maintains
1.20documentation of the employee's time spent on pupil transportation matters in the form
1.21and manner prescribed by the department.
1.22(d) Pupil transportation expenditures, excluding expenditures for capital outlay,
1.23leased buses, student board and lodging, crossing guards, and aides on buses, must be
1.24allocated among transportation categories based on cost-per-mile or, cost-per-student,
2.1cost-per-hour, or cost-per-route, regardless of whether the transportation services are
2.2provided on district-owned or contractor-owned school buses. Expenditures for school
2.3bus driver salaries and fringe benefits may either be directly charged to the appropriate
2.4transportation category or may be allocated among transportation categories based
2.5on cost-per-mile or, cost-per-student, cost-per-hour, or cost-per-route. Expenditures
2.6by private contractors or individuals who provide transportation exclusively in one
2.7transportation category must be charged directly to the appropriate transportation category.
2.8Transportation services provided by contractor-owned school bus companies incorporated
2.9under different names but owned by the same individual or group of individuals must be
2.10treated as the same company for cost allocation purposes.
2.11(e) Notwithstanding paragraph (d), districts contracting for transportation services
2.12are exempt from the standard cost allocation method for authorized and nonauthorized
2.13transportation categories if the district: (1) bids its contracts separately for authorized
2.14and nonauthorized transportation categories and for special transportation separate from
2.15regular and excess transportation; (2) receives bids or quotes from more than one vendor
2.16for these transportation categories; and (3) the district's cost-per-mile does not vary
2.17more than ten percent among categories, excluding salaries and fringe benefits of bus
2.18aides. If the costs reported by the district for contractor-owned operations vary by more
2.19than ten percent among categories, the department shall require the district to reallocate
2.20its transportation costs, excluding salaries and fringe benefits of bus aides, among all
2.21categories.
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