Abramson (HB 600) Act No. 654
Existing law requires public school boards to provide free transportation to and from school
to students who live within the board's jurisdiction and more than one mile from the school.
Authorizes school boards to provide free transportation to students who live within one mile
of the school if the board determines that conditions warrant such free transportation.
Restricts the ability of school boards to eliminate or reduce such free transportation services.
New law requires the governing authority of each public school, including charter schools,
to adopt policies or to make provision in bus transportation service agreements to do as
follows:
(1)Prohibit school bus drivers from loading/unloading students at school while the bus
is in a traffic lane of any type of street and require such loading/unloading on a
shoulder, in a school parking lot, or at another appropriate off-road location.
Provides that such requirement shall not apply if the shoulder of a municipal road is
the only available alternative and the municipality has not made the shoulder
available by designating that area for loading/unloading students during school zone
hours.
(2)Prohibit school bus drivers from loading/unloading students at or near their homes
while the bus is in a traffic lane of any type of street and require such
loading/unloading on a shoulder. Authorizes, if there is no shoulder, a bus driver to
load/unload a student while the bus is in a lane of traffic but only if the bus is in the
lane farthest to the right side of the road so that the student does not need to cross any
lane of traffic to get onto or off of the bus.
(3)Prohibit school bus drivers from loading/unloading students either at school or at or
near their homes in a manner or in a location that results in students crossing lanes
of traffic on a state highway or any other type of street.
Effective Aug. 1, 2014.
(Adds R.S. 17:158(J) and 3996(B)(34))