Question: What makes a bus route hazardous, and who determines which routes fall into this category?

Answer: The purpose of Section 42.155(d) of the Texas Education Code, which includes the term hazardous conditions in its language, is primarily fiscal. Districts that qualify, based on the conditions described in the Code, are eligible for a 10 percent increase in transportation funding. Guidelines embedded in the Code enable districts to determine eligibility, as seen in the following summary of Section 42.155(d):

• The transportation route cannot exceed two miles from home to school, a distance that an average child could walk under ideal conditions.
• Conditions along the route must pose hazards to the child's safety.
• A hazardous route is defined as one that lacks a walkway and causes the child to "walk along or cross a freeway or expressway, an underpass, an overpass or a bridge, an uncontrolled major traffic artery, an industrial or commercial area, or another comparable condition."
• The board of trustees for each district can request that a certain route be designated hazardous if prevailing conditions jeopardize the safety of students who walk or bike to school along that route.

  The Code, then, allows that any child faced with certain hazardous conditions along his or her route to school (per the Code's definition) is entitled to safe passage aboard a school bus at no charge, even if the student lives close enough to walk. Furthermore, the Code permits individual districts to identify other conditions that they feel are similarly hazardous. This element of subjectivity opens the way for a more expansive definition of the Code, since many interpretations of hazardous conditions along a student's walking route are possible. For example, districts with students who must cross railroad tracks, walk along and pass unprotected over frontage roads, or travel through areas with high crime rates can request that their board of trustees identify these routes as hazardous and then seek approval from the Commissioner of Education. However, districts are not required to identify such hazardous conditions or to provide transportation for students along these routes.

  Elaboration of Section 42.155(d) is provided in the TEA's Handbook on School Transportation Allotments.