Allows Parents to Waive Transportation if Child has Alternate Means to School
(TRENTON) – Legislation Assembly Democrats Connie Wagner, John F. McKeon, Craig J. Coughlin and Gilbert L. “Whip” Wilson sponsored to help save taxpayer money by giving parents the right to waive school transportation services has been signed into law.
The law (A-3399) provides that a school district will not be required to provide transportation services to an eligible public school pupil if the pupil’s parent or guardian signs a written statement waiving transportation for the school year.
“This is a common sense way to save taxpayer money,” said Wagner (D-Bergen). “If a parent is driving their child to school every day, then there’s no reason for the school district to have to go through the motions of setting up transportation for the child. This change is for the better.”
“This change ensures that a school district will not be using scarce reDests to have transportation services available to pupils who don’t intend to use them during the course of the school year because they may have alternate means of transportation,” said McKeon (D-Essex). “This is yet another step toward easing back on the mandates that cost taxpayer money but defy logic. Any dollar saved is a good thing.”
“We must always be focused on ways to save taxpayer dollars, and this an especially sensible way to do so because it saves money without cutting back on needed school services,” said Coughlin (D-Middlesex). “The savings may not be large, but every dollar counts, especially when we’re easing back on unnecessary mandates. This is a win for taxpayers.”
“Many students these days are driven to school by their parents, yet the taxpayers are still paying to provide transportation,” said Wilson (D-Camden/Gloucester). “We are always working to find ways to save money, and easing back on this type of mandate is a fiscally responsible approach. It will save money while causing no disruption to educational services.”
The bill was approved 78-0 by the Assembly and 39-0 by the Senate in June.