Best Practices for Reporting Student Transportation Ridership

Florida Education Finance Program

Under Section 1011.68, Florida Statutes, the student transportation formula allocates a portion of the funds within the overall Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) to each of Florida’s 67 school districts. Funds are calculated and distributed based primarily on each district’s pro rata share of the eligible transported students within the state. For eligible school district or charter school students to be included in the districts’ student transportation funding claims, districts must document the actual ridership of each eligible student transported in a school bus or other authorized vehicle during the prescribed survey periods. These procedures and the related instructions are specified in more detail in the Student Transportation General Instructions published annually on the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) website.

The best practices below were developed by the Ad Hoc Transportation Funding Work Group of the Florida Association for Pupil Transportation (FAPT) to augment the FDOE instructions and to serve as the basis for additional training of school district and local personnel. They representthe experience and consensus of the work group on the minimum steps that should be followed during each phase of the student transportation reporting process to be sure the data is accurate and timely. The best practices emphasize a team approach in which all parties (transportation, finance, and information/technology services) work together at the local level. Please note that the document is intentionally concise and is not designed to cover every situation or substitute for a thorough review and training by each local school district and charter school in its own specific processes.

The FAPT welcomes comments and suggestions for improvement. They can be sent by email to .

Three Phases of the Process

The chronological process of reporting student transportation ridership for funding is essentially the same throughout each of the four survey periods in which students are being claimed during the year. The logical parts of that process are, in order: 1. Pre-survey Preparation; 2. Survey Week (or window) Activities; and, 3. Post-survey Review and Reporting. Although there may be some local variation, and some tasks don’t fit neatly into those “windows,” most of the best practices and steps below are listed under one of these three chronological categories.

  1. Pre-Survey Preparation

Train all staff in and implement the following steps:

  • Prepare and provide an initial rosterof students eligible to ride, by bus
  • Discuss the required timelines for the particular survey
  • Register all riders by route
  • Ensure all studentsare properly coded
  • Update the district’s Hazardous Walking Survey of locations in the DOE database, if any
  • Establish or confirm communication with IT about the FTE process
  • Train drivers on the FTE collection process
  • Verify vehicle identification numbers (VINs) are correct in the database and associated with accurate routes
  • Include all Charter Schools in pre-survey preparation processes
  • Review other, non-funding eligible bus riders (courtesy riders)
  • Coordinate with public transit and schools, as applicable, on their responsibilities and tasks
  • Ensure maps correctly identify allattendance zones and hazardous walking locations
  • Ensure accurate Student Registration:
  • Establish ridership list by route (student listing)
  • Provide add-in or write-in sheets for non-listed students on student listing
  • Provide ridership list for public transit, if applicable
  • Assign Membership Codes/ESE:
  • Automated Process: Run completed program to determine ridership; table broken down by category per student (Hazardous, Courtesy, ESE, Regular)
  • Manual Process: IT or self-determine residence distance from school
  • Students less than 2 miles:review records to determine eligibility and appropriate membership category (Hazardous, Courtesy, ESE, Regular)
  • Identify and properly code Hazardous Walking students
  • Prepare Driver’s Report Form--Common Steps used by school districts:
  • Drivers are given district-created forms several days in advance to document student riders during the count week
  • Instructions are given to drivers to explain the process and reduce confusion
  • Additional blank forms are provided to list students not on rosters within the counting effort
  • Recommended best practices to prepare for driver reporting:
  • Provide drivers district-created forms with assigned students in advance so drivers may identify and confirm which assigned students board and depart from assigned bus stops
  • Instruct drivers to explain the process and reduce confusion
  • Provide additional blank forms to list students not on rosters within the counting effort (write-in)
  • Ensure forms allow ridership to be documented using a simple indicator such as a check mark, “bubble sheet,” or bar code
  • Ensure count sheets are inspected by department staff before being presented for the digital or manual countingprocess, and that student roster/count sheets require the following minimum information elements:

Student name

ID number (or other student identifier for verification)

Grade

School Name

Bus identifier (bus number or route number)

Line for driver signature

Specific date(s) student rode column

  1. Survey Week (11-day window) Activities

Confirm that all staff were trained (substitute drivers if needed) and implement the following activities during the 11-day Survey window (6 days prior and Survey week; see the Student Transportation General Instructions):

  • Procedures for Actual Student Count
  • Place a check mark under the proper day/date if the student rode
  • Cross out students that no longer ride
  • Option: Leave blank if student usually rides but did not ride during survey period
  • Students not listed on the student roster/count sheet are to be reported on the official write-in form provided by the district and submitted with roster/count sheet with a date they rode clearly indicated
  • If applicable, ensure that public transit providers and schools are properly documenting their student riders
  1. Post-survey Review and Reporting

Confirm all staff were trained in and implement the following activities during the remainder of the process following the survey until all information is reported accurately to FDOE and any discrepancies are identified and corrected:

  • Scan or manually enter student roster/count sheets (driver sheets) into the system
  • Providing files to Information Services (MIS)– At this stage in the process the district’s transportation office works with the student information/technology office to import the rider data collected from the drivers during the survey period (method varies by district) in preparation for error-checking
  • Verify that membership categories are accurate
  • If routing software is used, work with IT staff to update ridership tables
  • Follow processes for sending files to IT for error checking and corrections
  • Review error reports that are produced as database records are checked against ridership records for withdrawals, enrollments, attendance, student schedules, duplicates, etc. (varies by district)
  • Correct internal errors by:
  • Making either electronic or manual matches against various records (demographic, ESE, schedules and attendance, hazardous codes, teen-age parent, others?) and noting inconsistencies
  • Correctingand verifying unclear or inaccurate source data
  • Making corrections in coding if errors are related to attendance or eligibility category
  • Running new reports
  • Reviewing error reports that are produced as database records are checked against ridership records for withdrawals, enrollments, attendance, student schedules, duplicates, etc. (varies by district)
  • Making final corrections based on error reports and resubmitting accurate data
  • To start the reportingprocess, submit a ridership data file from your transportation office to your IT office that ensures:
  • The data file has one record per student, unique by FL ID number.
  • There is a matching demographic record for each transportation record submitted
  • There is a matching exceptional student record for each ESE transportation record submitted
  • Students’school attendance records match the dates they are counted on the bus by drivers
  • Transmit Completed Reports electronically to the DOE database and must match all district student information generated for FTE funding.
  • Each record contains the following information (this may vary by district):
  • District Number
  • Survey Period Code and Year
  • Number of Days in Term
  • Each Student’s: Last Name, First Name, District ID #, School, Grade, Residence Address, Distance to Schoolfrom Residence, City, State, Zip
  • Membership Category letter designation:

Any student declared under Membership Category letter G for Hazardous Walking should have the District assigned Hazardous Code for his/her area attached to his/her name in the completed file.

Any Special Needs student claimed for weighted funding should have the District assigned ESE exceptionality(s)/code(s) attached to his/her name in the completed file. Up to 5 ESE exceptionality(s)/code(s) can be listed. (Primary exceptionality/code should be listed first.)

  • Vehicle Category
  • Route number, Bus number- pulled from bus file submitted to IS/IT Department(file is submitted prior to FEFP Survey Period)
  • AM Route ID, Run ID, Stop ID, AM time at Stop
  • PM Route ID, Run ID, Stop ID, PM time at Stop
  • Ensure final check is done by district IT/IS office to ensure that any errors in transportation’s ridership file have been corrected before creating and submitting the completedreport to DOE for review
  • The Final Report submitted to DOE by district IS/IT office must contain the following:
  • District Number, Current Instruction/Service
  • Student Number Identifier, Florid
  • Survey Period Code
  • Fiscal Year
  • Year-Round/Extended School Year FTE Indicator
  • Days In Term (For FTE Purposes)
  • Transportation Membership Category
  • Vehicle Category
  • Bus Number
  • Bus Route Number
  • Transaction Code
  • District Number, Current Enrollment
  • Hazardous Walking
  • Student Number Identifier, Local
  • Error Codes
  • DOE receives the electronic file, containing the Completed Report, and runs error report files, which are returned to the district as “Student Transportation Validation Reports” for corrections.
  • Data is submitted back and forth in a circular manner between the district and DOE until all errors are corrected or the reporting period ends
  • The district receivesa final report containing the number of buses and count totals for each Membership category
  • Attachment A to the Student Transportation General Instructions, the memo for certification of transportation information totals, is then filled out by each district and returned to DOE by the due date posted on the Attachment. This certification memo must be completed for each survey period in which the district participates during the school year, even if there was no transportation provided.
  • Along with the file that is submitted electronically to DOE, the student roster/count sheet, compiled by each driver for the current FEFP survey count, must be on file for each route. All pages of the handwritten report must be signed and dated by the driver of each route. For audit and record keeping purposes it is advisable to keep each driver report in a separate file folder by route.
  • After submitting their completed reports districts may find that changes need to be made. These changes should be submitted to the DOE as batch update reports after the initial state processing is completed if the DOE database is reopened.
  • The Final Update/Amendment deadline dates are specified in the Student Transportation General Instructions each year.

Appendix

Checklist

As a recommended best practice and to assist with future FTE audit documentation, districts may wish to create a checklist that includes the following steps to ensure that all steps in the overall process have been completed for each survey period:

  • A completed roster is turned in for every route, shuttle or other service
  • Each source document is dated and signed by the driver collecting the data
  • Ensure any changes are also signed and dated by the driver showing concurrence with the change.
  • The Hazardous Walking data base has been updated and transmitted to DOE by end of survey week. A Hazardous Walking report has been printed for the file.
  • Maintain a map of the hazardous locations and all documentation required.
  • Maintain class schedule or record showing all students and babies/children claimed as Teenage Parent are enrolled in at least one class meeting the TAP criteria.
  • Maintain documentation that each student claimed in the “two mile or greater” category actually lives two miles or more from school; check maps of neighborhoods that are on the border and make sure where the 2-mile walk zone starts and stops
  • Maintain documentation for each weighted IDEA student from the IEP showing specific weighted criteria
  • Verify students’ residence addresses relative to schools of attendance (distance from home to school, measured per State Board rule)
  • Match ridership date(s) against attendance data (from various reports)
  • Verify eligibility categories
  • Special Needs students claimed for weighted funding – ensure IEP is available and documents requirement for one or more weighted funding criteria
  • Ensure you only claim the student one time
  • Ensure days in term are reported accurately for each student

This does not provide a complete listing but will prompt districts to develop their own checklist after reviewing their own processes.

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