This bill adds a new section to chapter 28A.160 RCW creating a "transportation safety net awards" program to provide state awards to school districts (including charter schools under chapter 28A.710 RCW and state-tribal education compact schools under chapter 28A.715 RCW) that can demonstrate additional transportation funding need for "special passengers." "Special passengers" is defined to include students who require transportation as a related service in an individualized education program, homeless students who require transportation under the McKinney-Vento Act, and foster students who receive transportation as required under the Every Student Succeeds Act. The awards are explicitly not part of the state's program of basic education. Awards may be made only when a district's allowable transportation expenditures exceed the amounts provided under RCW 28A.160.150 through 28A.160.192 and any excess transportation costs reimbursed by federal, state, tribal, or local child welfare agencies. An award may not exceed the district's excess expenditures directly attributable to serving special passengers. The superintendent of public instruction must adopt rules and establish application and award processes, and must report the total demonstrated need and awards by district to the Office of Financial Management and the legislature's education and fiscal committees. The omnibus appropriations act must specify the total amount available for awards, and total awards may not exceed that appropriation. Important details are not specified in the extracted text: the total dollar amount available depends on the omnibus appropriations act and is not given here; the criteria for what constitutes a "convincingly demonstrated need" are not defined and are left to OSPI rulemaking; the referenced "statewide accounting guidance" for reporting excess costs is not included; no deadlines or timelines for applications, awards, or required reporting are provided; the new section number within chapter 28A.160 RCW is not provided; and the text does not specify how reimbursements from child welfare agencies are to be calculated or documented.

If enacted, school districts — including charter schools and state-tribal compact schools — that spend more on transporting students who need special education-related transportation, are homeless, or are in foster care could receive extra state payments to cover those excess transportation costs. Those payments would be limited to each district’s documented excess costs, reduced by any reimbursements from child welfare agencies, and overall awards would be capped by whatever total amount the legislature puts into the omnibus appropriations act. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction would set application rules and must report district needs and awards to the Office of Financial Management and legislative budget committees. Practically this means some districts may see relief from local budgets for unusually high transportation costs, but only if they can convincingly document those costs under statewide accounting guidance and if the legislature funds the program. Districts should expect extra administrative work to document excess costs and uncertainty about timing and amounts because the bill does not specify the appropriation, the criteria for “convincingly demonstrated need,” reporting deadlines, or how child welfare reimbursements are to be documented.