093_HB0337ham001

 










                                     LRB093 04620 NHT 11743 a

 1                     AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 337

 2        AMENDMENT NO.     .  Amend House Bill  337  by  replacing
 3    everything after the enacting clause with the following:

 4        "Section  5.   The  School  Code  is  amended by changing
 5    Section 29-3 as follows:

 6        (105 ILCS 5/29-3) (from Ch. 122, par. 29-3)
 7        Sec. 29-3.  Transportation in school  districts.   School
 8    boards  of  community  consolidated districts, community unit
 9    districts,  consolidated  districts,  and  consolidated  high
10    school  districts,  and  combined  school  districts  if  the
11    combined district includes any district which was  previously
12    required   to  provide  transportation,  shall  provide  free
13    transportation for pupils residing at a distance of  one  and
14    one-half  miles  or  more  from  any school to which they are
15    assigned for attendance maintained within the district except
16    for those pupils for whom the school board shall  certify  to
17    the State Board of Education that adequate transportation for
18    the public is available.
19        For the purpose of this Act 1 1/2 miles distance shall be
20    from  the exit of the property where the pupil resides to the
21    point where  pupils  are  normally  unloaded  at  the  school
22    attended;  such distance shall be measured by determining the
 
                            -2-      LRB093 04620 NHT 11743 a
 1    shortest distance on normally traveled roads or streets.
 2        Such school board may comply with the provisions of  this
 3    Section  by  providing  free transportation for pupils to and
 4    from an assigned school and a pick-up point located not  more
 5    than  one  and  one-half  miles  from  the home of each pupil
 6    assigned to such point.
 7        For the purposes of this Act "adequate transportation for
 8    the public" shall be assumed to exist for such pupils as  can
 9    reach  school  by  walking,  one way, along normally traveled
10    roads or streets less than 1 1/2 miles  irrespective  of  the
11    distance the pupil is transported by public transportation.
12        In  addition  to  the other requirements of this Section,
13    each school board may provide  free  transportation  for  any
14    pupil  residing  within  1 1/2 miles from the school attended
15    where conditions are such that walking, either to or from the
16    school to which a pupil is assigned for attendance or  to  or
17    from  a  pick-up  point  or  bus  stop, constitutes a serious
18    hazard to the safety of the pupil due to vehicular traffic or
19    rail crossings or due to other hazards.  Such  transportation
20    shall  not  be  provided  if  adequate transportation for the
21    public is available.
22        The determination as to what constitutes a serious safety
23    hazard shall be made by the school board, in accordance  with
24    guidelines  promulgated  by  the  regional  superintendent of
25    schools   Illinois   Department   of    Transportation,    in
26    consultation  with  the  Department  of  Transportation  with
27    regard   to   vehicular   traffic  or  rail  crossings  State
28    Superintendent of  Education.  A  school  board,  on  written
29    petition  of  the  parent  or  guardian  of  a pupil for whom
30    adequate transportation for the  public  is  alleged  not  to
31    exist  because  the  pupil is required to walk along normally
32    traveled  roads  or  streets  where  walking  is  alleged  to
33    constitute a serious safety hazard due to  vehicular  traffic
34    or  rail  crossings,  or  who is required to walk between the
 
                            -3-      LRB093 04620 NHT 11743 a
 1    pupil's home and assigned school or between the pupil's  home
 2    or  assigned  school  and  a  pick-up point or bus stop along
 3    roads or streets where walking is  alleged  to  constitute  a
 4    serious  safety  hazard  due  to  vehicular  traffic  or rail
 5    crossings, shall conduct a study and make findings, which the
 6    regional superintendent of schools, in consultation with  the
 7    Department of Transportation with regard to vehicular traffic
 8    or  rail crossings, shall review and approve or disapprove as
 9    provided in this Section,  to  determine  whether  a  serious
10    safety  hazard  exists  as  alleged  in  the  petition.   The
11    regional  superintendent of schools, in consultation with the
12    Department of Transportation with regard to vehicular traffic
13    or rail crossings, shall review the findings  of  the  school
14    board  and  shall  approve  or  disapprove the school board's
15    determination that a serious safety hazard exists  within  30
16    days  after  the  school  board  submits  its findings to the
17    regional superintendent of  schools  Department.  The  school
18    board shall annually review the conditions and certify to the
19    regional State superintendent of schools Education whether or
20    not  the  hazardous conditions remain unchanged. The regional
21    State superintendent of schools Education  may  request  that
22    the  Illinois  Department  of  Transportation verify that the
23    conditions with regard to vehicular traffic or rail crossings
24    have not changed. No action  shall  lie  against  the  school
25    board,  the  regional  superintendent  of  schools, the State
26    Superintendent of Education or  the  Illinois  Department  of
27    Transportation  for  decisions  made  in accordance with this
28    Section. The provisions of the Administrative Review Law  and
29    all  amendments  and  modifications  thereof  and  the  rules
30    adopted  pursuant  thereto  shall  apply  to  and  govern all
31    proceedings instituted  for  the  judicial  review  of  final
32    administrative  decisions  of  the regional superintendent of
33    schools Department of Transportation under this Section.
34    (Source: P.A. 90-223, eff. 1-1-98.)".