1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to school transportation; directing the 
  1.3             metropolitan council and Minneapolis and St. Paul 
  1.4             school boards to develop and implement school 
  1.5             transportation plan using public transit; creating 
  1.6             advisory board; requiring report to legislature; 
  1.7             appropriating money. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  [SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION PLAN.] 
  1.10     The metropolitan council, the school board of special 
  1.11  school district No. 1, Minneapolis, and the school board of 
  1.12  independent school district No. 625, St. Paul, in consultation 
  1.13  with an advisory board, shall develop a school transportation 
  1.14  plan, the goal of which is to make available school 
  1.15  transportation through the metropolitan council's public transit 
  1.16  system, at no cost to students, to no fewer than 75 percent of 
  1.17  the students transported by Minneapolis public schools and no 
  1.18  fewer than 75 percent of the students transported by St. Paul 
  1.19  public schools, in grades 9 to 12, during the 1998-1999 school 
  1.20  year. 
  1.21     Sec. 2.  [ADVISORY BOARD.] 
  1.22     The metropolitan council and the school boards shall 
  1.23  convene and consult with an advisory board concerning the 
  1.24  development of the school transportation plan.  The advisory 
  1.25  board shall include, without limitation, the school 
  1.26  transportation directors from the Minneapolis and St. Paul 
  2.1   school districts; secondary students and parents of secondary 
  2.2   students who use school transportation in those school 
  2.3   districts; representatives of nonpublic schools located within 
  2.4   the districts; a representative of the department of children, 
  2.5   families, and learning; and administrators of secondary schools 
  2.6   within the districts. 
  2.7      Sec. 3.  [SCOPE OF SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION PLAN.] 
  2.8      The transportation plan must include, without being limited 
  2.9   to: 
  2.10     (1) a plan for service of the maximum possible number of 
  2.11  students, with a goal of transporting no less than 75 percent of 
  2.12  the students in grades 9 to 12 who are transported in each 
  2.13  district, with a minimum number of new transit routes; 
  2.14     (2) a recommendation for school day start and end times to 
  2.15  optimize use of public transit for school transportation; 
  2.16     (3) an analysis of availability of public transit for 
  2.17  special education students; open enrollment students; students 
  2.18  enrolled in nonpublic schools, charter schools, post-secondary 
  2.19  enrollment options programs, area learning centers, and other 
  2.20  nontraditional programs; and students participating in school 
  2.21  activities before or after the school day; 
  2.22     (4) a description of the quality of service to be available 
  2.23  to students, including maximum length of ride, number of 
  2.24  transfers required, and maximum distance between home or school 
  2.25  and bus stop; 
  2.26     (5) a recommendation concerning policies applicable to 
  2.27  fares for student ridership throughout the school day and 
  2.28  identification by public transit drivers of students entitled to 
  2.29  free school transportation; 
  2.30     (6) a plan to extend the goals and requirements of the 
  2.31  state's school transportation safety program to the 
  2.32  transportation of students on public transit, to the maximum 
  2.33  feasible extent; 
  2.34     (7) a method for communicating information to students 
  2.35  whose school transportation will be provided by public transit, 
  2.36  and their parents and guardians, of the school transportation 
  3.1   plan to be implemented in 1998-1999 and identification of a 
  3.2   contact person to answer resulting questions; 
  3.3      (8) recommendations concerning any legislation required to 
  3.4   implement the school transportation plan; 
  3.5      (9) an analysis of the cost to the metropolitan council of 
  3.6   providing the service outlined in the school transportation 
  3.7   plan; 
  3.8      (10) a description of the services that the districts will 
  3.9   be able to discontinue by virtue of the implementation of the 
  3.10  school transportation plan, and the financial impact to the 
  3.11  school districts of discontinuing these services; and 
  3.12     (11) an analysis of the safety implications of the plan. 
  3.13     Sec. 4.  [REPORT TO LEGISLATURE.] 
  3.14     The metropolitan council and school boards for the 
  3.15  Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts shall report the 
  3.16  school transportation plan to the senate children, families, and 
  3.17  learning K-12 committee and transportation committee, and to the 
  3.18  house of representatives education committee and transportation 
  3.19  and transit committee before January 30, 1998.  The cost to the 
  3.20  Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts for providing 
  3.21  transportation and transportation-related services to students 
  3.22  in grades 9 to 12 under the school transportation plan developed 
  3.23  as provided in section 1 must not exceed the projected cost, as 
  3.24  determined by the districts, of providing equivalent 
  3.25  transportation and transportation-related services using 
  3.26  district-provided transportation. 
  3.27     Sec. 5.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  3.28     $250,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the 
  3.29  metropolitan council for fiscal year 1998 for use in developing 
  3.30  the school transportation plan. 
  3.31     Sec. 6.  [EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION.] 
  3.32     Sections 1 to 3 are effective the day following final 
  3.33  enactment.  Section 5 is effective July 1, 1997.  This act 
  3.34  applies in the counties of Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, 
  3.35  Ramsey, Scott, and Washington.