OHIO — A new state plan could send money to school districts, allowing them to improve their busing.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, a bill in the Ohio House, co-sponsored by Dayton Democrat State Rep. Desiree Tims, would set aside $88 million for school transportation.
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If it becomes law, the bill will restart $45,000 grants to school districts to help cover the cost of new school buses.
The bill would also require districts to provide times when the private and charter school students living within their districts can start.
Right now, private and charter schools tell public districts when they start and end school. Public districts have to transport students on that schedule.
On Monday, News Center 7’s John Bedell talked to Dayton Public Schools Superintendent David Lawrence about the part of the bill that would allow DPS and other public districts to negotiate with charter and private schools on start times.
“If we’re picking kids up and dropping them off, we ought to have a say so in what time they’re picked up or dropped off. And if we could get the charter schools to agree to be on one of the three tiers that we have, 7:00, 8:00, or 9:00 (a.m.), we get them to agree to be one of those three tiers, we actually then could have a two-hour delay whenever we have inclement weather. Dayton Public Schools has not been able to do that for over two decades,” Lawrence said.
The 11 lawmakers with their names on the bill are Democrats.
Bedell spoke with Republican State Rep. Phil Plummer from Montgomery County on Monday.
He said he thinks there are valuable parts of the bills and sees the intent behind it. But he added that he would have liked to see a Republican as a co-sponsor to make the bill bipartisan.
The bill is currently in a House committee, which is a long way from Governor Mike DeWine’s desk.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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