Sec. 10-97. Transportation to vocational schools.
Sec. 10-97. Transportation to vocational 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 vocational 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 vocational secondary 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 vocational 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 vocational 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 vocational secondary 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 regional vocational-technical 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.)
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.
Cited. 187 C. 187. Cited. 195 C. 24.