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8/27/2024
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MEDIA ADVISORY: Special commission to study student transportation to hold inaugural meeting on Wednesday
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STATE HOUSE — A special legislative commission to study student transportation will have its first meeting Wednesday, Aug. 28, at 2 p.m. in Room 135 on the first floor of the State House.
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), who will serve on the commission and are expected to be chosen as co-chairs.
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 will include 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, President of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees Paul Bourget, President of the Rhode Island School Superintendents Association James Erinakes, Chairman of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority Board Peter Alviti, Secretary and Treasurer of Teamsters Local 251 Matthew Taibi, Department of Children Youth and Families Director Ashley Deckert, and a student experiencing transportation problems due to the existing statewide system.
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:
Daniel Trafford, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401)222-1922
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