New District Transportation Process

April 2, 2018

Chapter 285.9(3) of the Iowa Code requires the Area Education Agency Board of Directors to approve all bus routes outside the boundaries of the school district operating the buses. This has been interpreted to mean regular routes and regular special education routes, not bussing for field trips or activity trips. The Code requires you to request permission from the neighboring district(s) before any bus routes cross district boundaries.

This year, the process will be more streamlined than in the past as we only need to hear from districts that have transportation changes. The process is as follows:

  • Review the copy of your district’s agreement that we currently have on file. These will be sent to each superintendent by March 16, 2018.
  • If you have changes, send those to Central Rivers AEA Board Secretary Lori Thomas at lthomas@centralriversaea.org and she will make those changes for you in the online system. Remember, if your change impacts another district, you’ll need to contact them to make them aware that the change is being made. After the change is made you will receive an updated agreement. The deadline for sending your changes is March 31.
  • If you have no changes, there is no need to do anything further until it is time to certify those agreements. Your current agreement will remain in force for 2018-19. You will receive a reminder to go in and certify the agreements in May.
  • Once you have certified your agreements, the next step will be in September when a reminder will be sent to enter your bus routes. Once routes are entered, the AEA board will approve those routes.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. I have a change that impacts another district. Do I need to contact them?
    • Yes, it’s always a courtesy to notify the district you are crossing into. Once the district approves the change, you’ll contact me to update the online system. I’ll then follow-up with a new agreement for both districts to recertify. Only agreements with changes will go to our Board for approval.
  2. What are the permissible situations?
    1. reduce a road-related safety concern on a route
    2. create a more efficient/direct route
    3. transport special education students with established tuition in/out agreements
    4. transport private school students
    5. transport open-enrolled students
    6. transport homeless students/ foster care students to the district of origin
  3. I’m not sure of our routes yet for 2018-19.
    • Our goal is to have districts approve their 2018-19 routes as much as possible by March 31, but edits can occur throughout the year. You can contact me at any time with a change.
  4. Do districts still have viewing rights to the AEA Online Transportation System?
    • Yes, districts still have viewing rights and can log in to view (but not edit) their agreements. Agreements should match the PDF version attached to this email. bit.ly/TransportationAgreements. Your username is your email, and if you have forgotten your password use the password retrieval tool on the main login screen.
  5. My district has no changes; do I need to contact you?
    • You don’t need to do anything. Your current agreement will remain in force until a change occurs

If you have any questions, please call Lori at 319-273-8201 or 641-529-1263.