Private School Reporting Obligations
Private schools have two main reporting obligations under the transportation laws. As follows,
- Annually, by April 1, each private school must submit its proposed attendance area for the upcoming school year to each of the public school boards having any territory within the private school’s attendance area. For example, if your school’s attendance area covers parts of three public school districts, the private school would send a copy of its entire attendance area to each district’s school board. This map is used by the public school district to determine busing obligations for individual students so it is important to be accurate.
Most principals use online maps to draw their attendance areas boundaries. Here are instructions on how to do it using Google Maps.
If a private school fails to send its attendance area to a district by the April 1 deadline, the district will use the most recent attendance area on file with the school board as the attendance area of the private school.
2. Annually, by May 15, each private school must notify each school board in its attendance area of the name, grade level and address of each private school student eligible to receive transportation benefits from the district, and who is planning on attending the private school for the ensuing school year. At its own discretion, a public school board can extend the May 15 deadline. If you have students whose enrollment you are unsure of before the May 15 deadline, but know they will be eligible for busing and need it if they attend your school, include them on your list.
This requirement is meant for budgeting and planning purposes and is not meant to exclude additional riders at a later date.
