What do we send for Transportation?
The basic data elements for the Transportation are listed below (always reference the DOE Handbook for more details).
- Days In Term (For FTE Purposes) – Normally it is 90 for Survey 2 & 3 The sum of “Days in Term” reported for surveys 2 and 3 for the same fiscal year is the class days in the academic year calendar or 180 days, whichever is smaller. School districts with fewer than 180 instructional days must report the actual
number of days students were transported, not 180 days. - Transportation Membership Category – Type of Transportation (think of this as transportation FEFP code)
- Vehicle Category – Type of Vehicle (eg bus or van)
- Bus Number – This could be AM or PM Bus in Focus
- Bus Route Number – This could be AM or PM Route in Focus
- District Number, Current Enrollment – your district unless they are trans only from another district
- Hazardous Walking
Survey 2 & 3 Transportation
As of 2018-2019 student Transportation eligibility criteria have been revised to specify that students must be transported at least once during the five-day survey week or once during the preceding six scheduled school days.
|
Transportation Membership Category |
Survey 2/3 Definition |
|
Category L |
Students with disabilities whose IEPs specify the need for transportation as a related service. Category L may only be used if they are on a school bus (no vans) |
|
Category M |
Students Living Two Miles* or More from school AND ESE students who transported by vans. |
|
Category N |
Transported students living less than two miles* from home to school (transported by buses) and who are not eligible for funding in the FEFP transportation categorical program. |
|
Category P |
Family Empowerment Scholarship Student Transportation. This is for FES EO students which offers eligible students the option to receive a $750 scholarship to provide transportation to a public school different from the school to which the student was zoned for. |
*2 Miles Definition - Rule 6A-3.001 defines it as: "Such distance shall be measured from the closest pedestrian entry point of the property where the student resides to the closest pedestrian entry point of the assigned school building or to the assigned bus stop. The pedestrian entry point of the residence shall be where private property meets the public right-of-way. The district shall determine the shortest pedestrian route whether or not it is accessible to motor vehicle traffic."
Survey 4 & 1 Transportation
Days in Term – Report Scheduled days students are required to attend for the survey period.
|
Transportation Membership Category |
Summer Definition |
|
Category L |
Students with disabilities whose IEPs specify the need for extended school year education and transportation as a related service may be claimed for summer transportation funding. Category L may only be used if they are on a school bus (no vans) |
|
Category M |
Students attending non-residential Florida DJJ educational programs may also be claimed for summer transportation funding. |
|
Category N |
Students attending a program that does not generate full-time equivalent student membership under the FEFP may not be reported for summer school transportation funding. For example, Summer reading camp. |
|
Category P |
Family Empowerment Scholarship Student Transportation. This is for FES EO students which offers eligible students the option to receive a $750 scholarship to provide transportation to a public school different from the school to which the student was zoned for. |
Transportation Only Students
These are ESE students you are transporting to a neighboring district but are not enrolled in your district. For these students you must:
- Enroll them in your Transportation Only School
- Mark their enrolled District on the Transportation tab
- Enter their enrolled School on the Transportation tab
- Enter their bus information/route etc.
- You only send the Transportation data, check edits to make sure their primary district has reported the students.
Bus Rosters/Attendance
Districts must keep bus rosters/attendance for the 11-day window for Survey 2 & 3 and the 5-day survey week for Survey 4 & 1. Focus offers a tool you can use to generate paper bus rosters under Florida Reports > Bus Rosters. Here you select the survey/timeframe and the bus routes you want to print. Some districts actually enter a local field for each bus driver and if you use this you can use this to print by driver.
Print and distribute these to your bus drivers and have them mark students riding the bus for this time period. They can also write in any students who road the bus but were not assigned to them. This documentation must be kept for audit purposes.
For any student who did not ride the bus at all during the Survey attendance period but was assigned to a bus, you will need need to mark the checkbox "Student was not Transported During FTE Window.