2012 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 10 - Education and Culture
Chapter 164 - Educational Opportunities
Section 10-97 - Transportation to technical high schools.

(a) The board of education of any town or, where the boards of education of constituent towns have so agreed, any regional school district shall provide the reasonable and necessary transportation, except as provided in section 10-233c, for any student under twenty-one years of age who is not a graduate of a high school or technical high school and who resides with a parent or guardian in such town or regional school district or who belongs to such town, and who attends a state or state-approved technical high school within such local or regional school district as a regular all-day student or as a high school cooperative student, and for any such student who attends any such school in a town other than the town of his residence. When the cost of such transportation out-of-town would exceed the sum of two hundred dollars per year, said board of education may elect to maintain such student in the town where he or she attends such technical high school and for the cost of such maintenance the local or regional school district shall be reimbursed in the same manner and to the same extent as in the case of payment for transportation. Each such board’s reimbursement percentage pursuant to section 10-266m for expenditures in excess of eight hundred dollars per pupil incurred in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1987, and in each fiscal year thereafter, shall be increased by an additional twenty percentage points.

(b) Any local or regional board of education which does not furnish agricultural science and technology education approved by the State Board of Education shall designate a school or schools having such a course approved by the State Board of Education as the school which any person may attend who has completed an elementary school course through the eighth grade. The board of education shall pay the tuition and reasonable and necessary cost of transportation of any person under twenty-one years of age who is not a graduate of a high school or technical high school and who attends the designated school, provided transportation services may be suspended in accordance with the provisions of section 10-233c. Each such board’s reimbursement percentage pursuant to section 10-266m for expenditures in excess of eight hundred dollars per pupil incurred in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1987, and in each fiscal year thereafter, shall be increased by an additional twenty percentage points.

(c) Any local or regional board of education which transports students to a state or state-approved technical high school, or school furnishing agricultural science and technology education shall be reimbursed for a portion of such pupil transportation annually in accordance with the provisions of section 10-266m, and the provisions of subsections (a) and (b) of this section relating to reimbursement percentages, provided the reimbursement for transportation costs to a school furnishing vocational agricultural training shall not exceed an amount equal to such reimbursement of the costs of transporting such pupils to the school furnishing a full program of vocational agricultural training nearest to the sending school district at the time of the pupil’s initial enrollment in the program. Application for such reimbursement shall be made by the board of education to the State Board of Education at such time and in such manner as said state board prescribes. The provisions of this section shall apply to a veteran who served in time of war, as defined by section 27-103, without regard to age or whether or not such veteran resides with a parent or guardian provided such veteran is attending a state or state-approved vocational secondary school.

(d) The parents or guardian of any student or any veteran over twenty-one who is denied the reasonable and necessary transportation required in this section may appeal such lack of transportation in the same manner as is provided in sections 10-186 and 10-187.

(e) For purposes of this section, a local or regional board of education shall not be required to expend for transporting a student to a technical high school or an agricultural science and technology education center an amount greater than six thousand dollars, except that a board of education shall continue to pay the reasonable and necessary costs of transporting a student who is enrolled in such a school or center on July 1, 1996, until such student completes the program at such school or center.

(1949 Rev., S. 1406; 1951, 1953, S. 933d; 1957, P.A. 163, S. 20; 1959, P.A. 178, S. 1; 1961, P.A. 392; 1963, P.A. 445; 1967, P.A. 190, S. 1; 1969, P.A. 603, S. 1; P.A. 77-614, S. 302, 610; P.A. 78-218, S. 80; 78-272, S. 1, 6; P.A. 79-128, S. 27, 36; P.A. 80-404, S. 2, 4; P.A. 82-133, S. 1, 2; P.A. 83-32, S. 1, 2; 83-119, S. 3, 8; P.A. 86-71, S. 1, 11; P.A. 88-136, S. 6, 7, 37; P.A. 96-161, S. 4, 13; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-5, S. 46; P.A. 08-152, S. 6; 08-170, S. 24; P.A. 12-116, S. 87; June 12 Sp. Sess. P.A. 12-2, S. 100.)

History: 1959 act added provisions concerning vocational agricultural training and added provision granting right of appeal upon denial of transportation; 1961 act added references to technical institutes and substituted the superintendent of schools for the secretary of the local board of education as the certifying agent; 1963 act included regional school districts, raised the maximum annual expenditure per pupil from $300 to $400 and the maximum state aid per pupil for transportation from $150 to $200; 1967 act deleted requirement that comptroller draw fund for reimbursement in July, deleted specific requirement that payment be made from funds available for high school transportation and deleted listing of specific information to be certified to state board, replacing these specific statements with general provision that boards shall apply for reimbursement at such time and in such manner as state board prescribes and changed amount of reimbursement to an average of $200 per pupil; 1969 act substituted “technical college” for “technical institute” and clearly distinguished between transportation costs for students to schools within town and out of town by adding provision limiting reimbursement for transportation within town to 50% of cost not exceeding $20 per pupil annually and making technical changes; P.A. 77-614 substituted commissioner of education for secretary of the state board of education, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 78-218 divided section into subsecs. and made technical changes for clarity, i.e. specifying secondary school rather than schools “other than a technical college”, etc.; P.A. 78-272 changed average dollar amount of reimbursement for in-town transportation from $20 to $30 per pupil; P.A. 79-128 replaced former provisions for reimbursement in Subsec. (c) with statement that reimbursement be in accordance with Secs. 10-266m and 10-266n except as provided; P.A. 80-404 clarified provision in Subsec. (c) placing limits on reimbursement; P.A. 82-133 clarified that school district responsibility for transporting students to vocational schools does not extend to students who have already graduated from high school or vocational school; P.A. 83-32 amended Subsec. (a) to limit transportation expenditures for any one pupil to $800 per school year; P.A. 83-119 authorized board of education to suspend transportation services; P.A. 86-71 in Subsecs. (a) and (b) limited the provision that a board of education not be required to expend more than $800 prior to the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1987, and added that thereafter there would be an increase in the reimbursement percentage and in Subsec. (c) added references to Subsecs. (a) and (b) and deleted the reference to Sec. 10-266n which was repealed; P.A. 88-136 in Subsec. (a) deleted an obsolete provision applicable to the school years prior to the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1987, and deleted in Subsec. (b) a provision applicable to the school years prior to the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1987; P.A. 96-161 added Subsec. (e) re cap on required expenditures, effective July 1, 1996; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-5 amended Subsec. (e) to change cap from amount of foundation to $6,000, effective October 6, 2007; P.A. 08-152 and 08-170 amended Subsecs. (b) and (c) to change “vocational agricultural training” to “agricultural science and technology education” and amended Subsec. (e) to change “vocational-agriculture” to “agricultural science and technology education”, effective July 1, 2008; pursuant to P.A. 12-116, “vocational school” and “regional vocational-technical school” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “technical high school”, effective July 1, 2012; June 12 Sp. Sess. P.A. 12-2 replaced reference to vocational secondary school with reference to technical high school in Subsec. (a) (Revisor’s Note: In Subsec. (c), a reference to “vocational secondary school” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “technical high school” to conform with changes made by P.A. 12-116, S. 87, and June 12 Sp. Sess. P.A. 12-2, S. 100).