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10/7/2024
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Media Advisory: Special commission to study student transportation to meet Wednesday
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STATE HOUSE — The special legislative commission studying student transportation will meet Wednesday for an overview of the statewide transportation system from the Department of Education.
The Special Joint Legislative Commission to Study Student Transportation Needs and System Costs meets Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 3:45 p.m. in Room 135 on the first floor of the State House. On the agenda is election of a commission co-chairperson, and an overview of the statewide transportation system by Rhode Island Department of Education Chief Operations Officer Dr. Mario Carreño.
The 13-member commission is charged with studying the transportation needs of students, the most cost-effective way of meeting them and what changes need to be made to the state’s laws governing the statewide transportation program. The panel was established by a joint resolution (2024-S 2523B, 2024-H 7915A) introduced by Sen. Linda Ujifusa (D-Dist. 11, Portsmouth, Bristol) and Rep. Terri Cortvriend (D-Dist. 72, Portsmouth, Middletown).
State law requires local school districts to pay the costs of transporting students outside their districts if they have special needs that can’t be met locally or they attend a private, parochial, charter or career and technical school within the district’s assigned transportation region. The law requires districts to use a statewide transportation service administered by the R.I. Department of Education (RIDE), or seek a variance from RIDE, for instance, to use district-owned buses, but receive no reimbursement.
In addition to Senator Ujifusa and Representative Cortvriend, the panel includes Rep. Joseph J. Solomon Jr. (D-Dist. 22, Warwick); House Minority Leader Michael W. Chippendale (R-Dist. 40, Foster, Glocester, Coventry); Sen. Samuel D. Zurier (D-Dist. 3, Providence); Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz (R-Dist. 23, North Smithfield, Burrillville, Glocester); Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Angelica Infante-Green; Portsmouth School Committee Chairwoman Emily Copeland, who is representing Rhode Island Association of School Committees; Bristol-Warren Regional School Superintendent and Rhode Island School Superintendents Association Ana Riley; Rhode Island Public Transit Authority Board Chairman Peter Alviti; Secretary and Treasurer of Teamsters Local 251 Matthew Taibi; Department of Children Youth and Families Director Ashley Deckert; and student Lilian Cordero Gagnon.
The meeting will be televised live by Capitol Television, which can be seen by Cox Communications subscribers on channels 15 and 61 for high definition, on channel 15 by i3Broadband viewers, and channel 34 for Verizon subscribers. Livestreaming will be available at https://www.rilegislature.gov/CapTV/Pages/default.aspx.
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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