NOTICE TO PARENTS/GUARDIANS

Parent(s) or legal guardian(s) who must provide transportation to and from school because free transportation is not available for their children may be eligible to receive money from the state to help offset some of the cost, for example, bus fares, or mileage reimbursement for private automobiles at .405 cents per mile.

If you can answer yes to the following questions for the 2005-2006 school year, you may be eligible to receive reimbursement for providing such transportation.

1) Will the pupil be under the age of 21 at the close of the school year?

2) Is the pupil a full-time student in grades kindergarten through 12?

3) Does the pupil either live 1-1/2 miles or more from school or live less than 1-1/2 miles from school but must be transported due to a serious safety hazard approved by the Illinois Department of Transportation? (See following paragraphs.)

4) Does the pupil attend a school within Illinois which meets Illinois compulsory attendance laws?

5) Did the parent/guardian incur transportation expenses resulting from transporting the pupil to and from school?

6) Did the pupil not have access to transportation to and from school provided entirely at public expense?

7) Did the parent/guardian reside within Illinois during the time period expenses were incurred?

If you answered yes to the above questions, lived in Illinois and wish to file a claim, you must go to the school where each of your children is enrolled by June 30, 2006, to submit claim information. You may provide claim information to appropriate school personnel at your child’s attendance center until June 30, 2006.

In addition, parent(s)/guardian(s) who have pupils living less than 1/1-2 miles from the school attended must verify that a safety hazard due to vehicular traffic exists by completing an Application for Determination of Serious Safety Hazards. Parents can obtain a copy of the Application for Determination of Serious Safety Hazards from the Office of the Regional Superintendent of Schools for the county in which they reside except parents residing within the City of Chicago. Chicago residents can receive a copy of the Application for Determination of Serious Safety Hazards from the Illinois State Board of Education, Division of Funding and Disbursement Services, 100 North First Street, Springfield, IL 62777. All applications for Determination of Serious Safety Hazards must be received no later than February 1, 2006, at the office from which the application was requested. Example: ISBE (Chicago residents), ROE (Illinois residents other than those residing in Chicago). The Regional Superintendent of Schools is required to send the Application to the Illinois Department of Transportation within 15 days. The Illinois Department of Transportation reviews and approves or denies the application and returns it to the Regional Superintendent of Schools within 30 days. Upon receipt of the reviewed application, the Regional Superintendent of Schools will mail it to the parent/guardian who requested the safety hazard be verified. If the safey hazard is approved, the parent/guardian must go to the school the pupil attends to submit claim information. Parents who received verification of a safety hazard during and after the 2002-2003 school year, whose children attend the same school and live at the same address do not have to reapply for safety hazard verification.

Once all claim information is submitted at the school, it will be transmitted electronically to the Illinois State Board of Education. If your claim information is approved, you should receive a check directly from the state for the lesser of the cost of transporting your child/children or the average per pupil reimbursement paid to public schools for transporting regular education pupils. If insufficient funds are appropriated by the General Assembly, all claims will be prorated.

If you have any questions, please call or come to the school as soon as possible.