II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1311 

To provide grants for use by rural local educational agencies in purchasing 

new school buses. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 24, 2005 

Mr. REID (for himself, Mr. BINGAMAN, Mr. SALAZAR, and Mr. KERRY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL

To provide grants for use by rural local educational agencies 

in purchasing new school buses.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bus Utility and Safety 

5 in School Transportation Opportunity and Purchasing Act 

6 of 2005’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

9 (1) school transportation issues remain a con10 cern for parents, local educational agencies, law-
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1 makers, the National Highway Traffic Safety Ad2 ministration, the National Transportation Safety 

3 Board, and the Environmental Protection Agency; 

4 (2) millions of children face potential future 

5 health problems because of exposure to noxious 

6 fumes emitted from older school buses; 

7 (3) many rural local educational agencies are 

8 operating outdated, unsafe school buses that are 

9 failing inspection, resulting in a depletion of the 

10 school bus fleets of the local educational agencies; 

11 and 

12 (4) many rural local educational agencies are 

13 unable to afford newer and safer buses. 

14 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to estab15 lish within the Department of Education a Federal cost16 sharing program to assist rural local educational agencies 

17 with older, unsafe school bus fleets in purchasing newer, 

18 safer school buses. 

19 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) RURAL LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—

22 The term ‘‘rural local educational agency’’ means a 

23 local educational agency, as defined in section 9101 

24 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

25 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801), with respect to which— 
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1 (A) each county in which a school served 

2 by the local educational agency is located has a 

3 total population density of fewer than 10 per4 sons per square mile; 

5 (B) all schools served by the local edu6 cational agency are designated with a school lo7 cale code of 7 or 8, as determined by the Sec8 retary of Education; or 

9 (C) all schools served by the local edu10 cational agency have been designated, by official 

11 action taken by the legislature of the State in 

12 which the local educational agency is located, as 

13 rural schools for purposes relating to the provi14 sion of educational services to students in the 

15 State. 

16 (2) SCHOOL BUS.—The term ‘‘school bus’’ 

17 means a vehicle the primary purpose of which is to 

18 transport students to and from school or school ac19 tivities. 

20 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

21 the Secretary of Education. 

22 SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available 

24 under subsection (e) for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall 

25 provide grants, on a competitive basis, to rural local edu-
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1 cational agencies to pay the Federal share of the cost of 

2 purchasing new school buses. 

3 (b) APPLICATION.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each rural local educational 

5 agency that seeks to receive a grant under this Act 

6 shall submit to the Secretary for approval an appli7 cation at such time, in such manner, and accom8 panied by such information (in addition to informa9 tion required under paragraph (2)) as the Secretary 

10 may require. 

11 (2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted 

12 under paragraph (1) shall include— 

13 (A) documentation that, of the total num14 ber of school buses operated by the rural local 

15 educational agency, not less than 50 percent of 

16 the school buses are in need of repair or re17 placement; 

18 (B) documentation of the number of miles 

19 that each school bus operated by the rural local 

20 educational agency traveled in the most recent 

21 9-month academic year; 

22 (C) documentation that the rural local edu23 cational agency is operating with a reduced 

24 fleet of school buses; 
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1 (D) a certification from the rural local 

2 educational agency that— 

3 (i) authorizes the application of the 

4 rural local educational agency for a grant 

5 under this Act; and 

6 (ii) describes the dedication of the 

7 rural local educational agency to school 

8 bus replacement programs and school 

9 transportation needs (including the num10 ber of new school buses needed by the 

11 rural local educational agency); and 

12 (E) an assurance that the rural local edu13 cational agency will pay the non-Federal share 

14 of the cost of the purchase of new school buses 

15 under this Act from non-Federal sources. 

16 (c) PRIORITY.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—In providing grants under 

18 this Act, the Secretary shall give priority to rural 

19 local educational agencies that, as determined by the 

20 Secretary— 

21 (A) are transporting students in a bus 

22 manufactured before 1977; 

23 (B) have a grossly depleted fleet of school 

24 buses; or 
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1 (C) serve a school that is required, under 

2 section 1116(b)(9) of the Elementary and Sec3 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

4 6316(b)(9)), to provide transportation to stu5 dents to enable the students to transfer to an6 other public school served by the rural local 

7 educational agency. 

8 (d) PAYMENTS; FEDERAL SHARE.— 

9 (1) PAYMENTS.—The Secretary shall pay to 

10 each rural local educational agency having an appli11 cation approved under this section the Federal share 

12 described in paragraph (2) of the cost of purchasing 

13 such number of new school buses as is specified in 

14 the approved application. 

15 (2) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 

16 the cost of purchasing a new school bus under this 

17 Act shall be 75 percent. 

18 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

19 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act— 

20 (1) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and 

21 (2) such sums as are necessary for each of fis22 cal years 2007 through 2011.

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