Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2001/01/18/01-1123/head-start-program
Timestamp: 2015-03-29 22:25:55
Document Index: 332578915

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1310', 'art 1310', 'ART 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310', '§ 1310']

Dates: 45 CFR 1310.11 and 1310.15(c) are effective January 20, 2004. 45 CFR 1310.12(a) and 1310.22(a) are effective January 18, 2006. 45 CFR 1310.2(c) and 1310.12(b) are effective February 20, 2001. The other provisions of this part are effective January 18, 2002.
Effective Date: 01/20/2004
66 FR 5296
-5315 (20 pages)
Document Number: 01-1123
Shorter URL: https://federalregister.gov/a/01-1123 Related Topics
Standards for Safe Transportation 3 actions from June 15th, 1995 to November 2000
Section 1310.23(a)(3) (re-designated as § 1310.23(b)(3) in the final rule)
Head Start is authorized under the Head Start Act (the Act), Title VI, Subtitle A, Chapter 8 of the 97, the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.). It is a national program providing comprehensive child development services primarily to low-income children, predominantly age three to the age of compulsory school attendance, and their families. To help enrolled children achieve their full potential, Head Start programs provide comprehensive health, nutritional, educational, social and other services.
II. Background and Purpose of the Rule Back to Top
ACYF-IM-83-06, “Transportation Safety,” issued March 24, 1983. This Information Memorandum provided notification to Head Start programs of a Highway Accident Report prepared by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on an accident involving a Head Start vehicle. As a result of their investigation, the NTSB recommended that ACYF advise all Head Start programs of the circumstances of the accident in hopes that the report would draw attention to the importance of transportation safety. The Information Memorandum also notified programs of the NTSB's recommendation that ACYF adopt, and emphasize the need for adherence to, the policies and guidelines provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Pupil Transportation Safety Standards, Highway Safety Program Standard Number 17 (now Guideline 17). A copy of Standard 17 was included and programs were “urged” to use the Standard to assess the adequacy of their transportation systems.
The additional category of vehicle was added to address two significant issues raised during the NPRM comment period. The first issue related to the fact that some States prohibit Head Start and other community based programs from using school buses. The second issue related to concerns raised by Community Transportation Agencies (CTAs) about their ability to continue serving Head Start programs if all Head Start agencies providing transportation services were required to use only school buses. Some CTAs operate vehicles which serve both Head Start grantees and other community organizations, and believe that using only school buses to provide transportation for Head Start programs would interfere with their ability to use the same vehicles to meet the needs of other segments of the community. Other groups, such as senior citizens, might object to the use of school buses to meet their needs, and it would be prohibitively expensive for the CTAs to have separate vehicles to meet the needs of Head Start programs and those of other groups. Reconciling the opposing issues related to vehicle structural safety took several years of painstaking work. Significant progress was accomplished through the contributions of the Joint Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Transportation Coordinating Council on Human Services Transportation (now known as the Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility). The development of the allowable alternate vehicle evolved through information exchange, inclusion of multiple perspectives, and willingness to compromise in order to improve the safety of children.
The TRB's examination of the use of seat belts on school buses inSpecial Report 222, along with NHTSA's recommendation in Guideline 17 that passengers in vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of less than 10,000 pounds (which is the class of vehicle most frequently used by Head Start programs) use occupant restraints, raises an issue of special significance to the safe transportation of Head Start children. The use of standard Type I (lap) and Type II (lap and shoulder) seat belts is inappropriate for children who weigh 50 pounds or less, because of the potential for injury from the seat belt itself. Children weighing 50 pounds or less should be seated in child restraint systems designed in accordance with FMVSS No. 213, “Child Restraint Systems.” Since almost all Head Start children fall into this lower weight category, we have included such a requirement in the rule. Our decision to include this requirement is based on consultation with organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC and the Riley Hospital for Children, Automotive Safety for Children Program in Indianapolis, Indiana. The regulation provides that within three years of its publication, all vehicles must be equipped for use of child restraint systems. In some instances, this may require replacement of existing vehicles. While the regulation allows up to five years to use school buses or allowable alternate vehicles, the full five years will not be available if vehicles are being used that cannot accommodate, or be safely retrofitted to accommodate child restraint systems. We recognize the financial effect that a three year versus a five year implementation period may have for some grantees. We urge grantees to evaluate existing vehicles for capacity to accommodate child restraint systems and plan accordingly. The use of child restraint systems for children weighing 50 pounds or less is critical to their safety.
We have excluded the transportation provided under the Head Start and Early Head Start home-based program option from the requirement for use of school buses or allowable alternate vehicles, and the requirements on driver qualifications and bus monitors. In the home-based option, it may only be necessary to transport parents and children to twice monthly group socializations and other program activities. Usually, the transportation is provided in a vehicle other than a school bus driven by the home visitor, although many programs already use school buses to transport children enrolled in home-based programs. We anticipate that programs already using school buses will continue the practice. Programs will also need to comply with other requirements of the regulations when transporting children enrolled in home-based programs. We also expect that as more grantees acquire school buses and allowable alternate vehicles for use in transporting children enrolled in other program options, they will make available to children enrolled under the home-based option the same transportation services provided to children enrolled under other program options. We are, however, reluctant at this time to apply the same requirements under the home-based option as other options because local circumstances may at times make it impossible to comply fully with the requirements of the regulations. There may be situations, for example, in rural communities with widely dispersed populations when it will not be possible for a grantee to coordinate its use of vehicles to provide the necessary services using school buses or allowable alternate vehicles to meet the needs of children enrolled in the home-based option as well as those enrolled under the other options that it operates.
III. Summary of the Major Provisions of the Rule Back to Top
IV. Rulemaking History Back to Top
On June 15, 1995, the Department published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in the Federal Register (60 FR 31612), proposing regulations establishing requirements for the safety features and the safe operation of vehicles used by Head Start agencies to transport enrolled children, safety education, and transportation coordination. Copies of the proposed rule were mailed to all Head Start grantee and delegate agencies. Interested individuals were given 60 days in which to comment on the proposed rule. During the 60-day comment period the Department received more than 800 comments from more than 300 respondents. The respondents included Head Start grantees and public and private agencies and individuals interested in Head Start transportation services.
V. Section-by-Section Discussion of Comments Back to Top
Subpart B—Transportation Requirements Back to Top
In response to comments that three years is not a reasonable period for replacement of existing vehicles in order to comply with the regulations, the effective date of sections 1310.12(a) and 1310.22(a), which now provide that children enrolled in Head Start agencies be transported in either school buses or allowable alternate vehicles, will be five years from the date of publication of this part in the Federal Register. This change will provide additional time for necessary financial planning and upgrading and replacing vehicles.
Paragraph (g) required that vehicles transportation Head Start children be equipped with a communication system for use in the event of emergencies. The NPRM referenced a citizen band radio as an example of a communication system.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirms that based on research, “school buses have been and remain the safest form of highway transportation”(School Bus Safety: Safe Passage for America's Children (1998), p. 5). NHTSA based its conclusion in part on data documenting that the school bus occupant fatality rate of 0.2 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) is much lower than the rates for passenger cars (1.5 per 100 million VMT) or light trucks and vans (1.3 per hundred million VMT). NHTSA established the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) to make school buses stronger and to provide improved occupant protection (p. 7).
Based on its report, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (July, 1999) recommending the expedition of the rule requiring that Head Start Children be transported in vehicles built to Federal school bus structural standards or the equivalent and that the guidelines from the National Highway Safety Administration's Guideline for the safe Transportation of Preschool Age Children in School Buses regarding child passenger restraint systems be incorporated in the regulation. Both of the Safety Board's recommendations are reflected in the final rule. Because all children attending Head Start must be accompanied by an adult if they cross a street or highway to board or exit a vehicle, the final regulation permits the use of an “Allowable Alternate Vehicle” which would not be identified as a “school bus,” be painted yellow or equipped with flashing lights and a stop arm. The final regulation provides for waiver of one or more of its specific requirements when adherence to a requirement of this part would itself create a safety hazard in the circumstances faced by the Head Start, Early Head Start, or delegate agency, such as when use of a school bus or allowable alternate vehicle is ruled out because of terrain in the area served by the grantee or some other safety factor. In response to the concern about navigating unpaved roads, it should be noted that four wheel drive school buses are currently available.
Response. The rule specifies that “vehicles must not be required to back up * * * [on their routes] except when necessary for reasons of safety or because of physical barriers.” This requirement reflects that it is not safe for school bus routes to be mapped so that backing up is necessary. A bus, however, may need to back up for reasons of safety or physical barrier. In either instance the reverse beepers notify pedestrians of the driver's intention and could prevent accidents and injury. Therefore, the provision was retained.
Response. Head Start agencies that are transporting children enrolled in their programs in vehicles which do not meet the requirements under Section 1310.12 should consider replacing those vehicles with compliant vehicles as soon as possible. The allowable limit for vehicle replacement has been extended to five years in order to accommodate the useful life of vehicles that are relatively new at the time the rule is published. Also, the wording of the final regulation has been changed to require that each agency providing transportation services must transport children enrolled in its programs in school buses or allowable alternate vehicles that are equipped for use of height and weight appropriate child restraint systems, and that have reverse beepers. It should be noted that existing vehicles which cannot be equipped to safely accommodate child restraint systems must be replaced within three years of publication of the final rule. We recognize that in a minority of cases this could necessitate vehicle replacement before the full five year period expires or the vehicle's useful like is completely exhausted. This constitutes a reasonable compromise because it will affect relatively few vehicles, three years is an adequate amount of planning time, and restraint systems are essential to child passenger safety. The implementation of child restraint systems should occur as quickly as is reasonably possible. Paragraph (b) was added to the final rule to clarify that, beginning thirty days after publication of the rule, vehicles purchased with Head Start funds for use transporting children must meet the requirements of paragraph (a).
Response. The Commercial Driver's License requirements establish a driver's qualifications to operate the appropriate class of passenger vehicle. The CDL is viewed as the best assurance that drivers will meet essential minimum standards. The final rule retains the CDL requirement in States where such licenses are granted. All operators of commercial motor vehicles are required to have CDLs. Commercial motor vehicles include vehicles designed to carry 16 or more passengers, including the driver. Many States have extended the inclusion to all vehicles used to provide pupil transportation. To obtain a CDL, vehicle operators must pass written and driving tests in accordance with Federal Standards for the vehicle the person intends to operate. The knowledge test includes such topics as proper procedures for loading and unloading passengers, proper response to emergencies, proper response at railroad crossings and proper braking procedures. The skills test requires applicants to demonstrate basic vehicle control, safe driving, and air brake skills. The topics addressed by the CDL tests are deemed essential for operators of vehicles transporting children. The cost of transportation services may increase as current transportation providers employ drivers with CDLs to meet the requirements of this part. However, many providers already employ CDL drivers as is required by their State. Grantees and delegate agencies will need to assess current practice and make training and budget plans accordingly.
Response. We agree with the respondents who wrote the 40 hours of pre-service training may, in some cases, be more than necessary. Per respondent recommendation, the language in the final rule has been changed to require training topics, rather than hours. Each program will decide on the number of hours necessary to effectively cover the required material. The required content of training remains unchanged and programs are expected to design training plans that will include the required skill areas. Section 1310.13(b)(1)(i)-(vii) (re-designated as Section 1310.17(b)(1)-(7) in the final rule)
Response. The final rule emphasizes that vehicles must not be required to back up on their routes or make “U” turns, except when necessary for reasons of safety or because of physical barriers. Every effort to avoid these maneuvers must be made through route planning. Extreme caution must be used in negotiating “U” turns, backing up, or three point turns.
Response. Head Start and Early Head Start programs are currently obligated to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Head Start Performance Standards on Services for Children with Disabilities and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Under these regulations they must accommodate the special needs of children with disabilities. Paragraph (a) of this section in the final rule was amended to clarify that Head Start transportation services must be accessible and that children with disabilities should be transported on vehicles that meet the requirements for school buses or allowable alternate vehicles. Transportation provided under the home-based option is excepted from this provision unless the agency uses school buses or allowable alternate vehicles to transport other children enrolled in the home-based option. This exception has been created because it may not always be possible to ensure that when the agency does not regularly use school buses or allowable alternate vehicles to transport children receiving home-based services that an accessible school bus or allowable alternate vehicle will be available from another source when needed. The rule also specifies that, whenever possible, children with disabilities should be transported on the same vehicles used to transport other children in the program.
VI. Impact Analysis Back to Top
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) requires the Federal government to anticipate and reduce the impact of rules and paperwork requirements on small businesses. For each rule with a “significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities” an analysis must be prepared describing the rule's impact on small entities. Small entities are defined by the Act to include small businesses, small non-profit organizations and small governmental entities. These regulations would affect small entities. However, it should be noted that many Head Start agencies already provide transportation services in accordance with State and local requirements. Furthermore, the increased costs associated with implementing this regulation's provisions are small and well within grantees' capacity to manage. The total estimate of $18.9 million, less than one-third of one-percent of Head Start's annual budget, is comprised of three requirements. These are: $4.8 million to employ additional bus monitors for those relatively few programs currently operating vehicles without monitors; $10 million to recruit and retain qualified bus drivers with Commercial Driver's Licenses for programs currently using drivers without the credential; and $4.1 million to purchase child safety restraint systems. ACF acknowledges that compliant vehicles can, in some cases, be more costly than non-compliant vehicles. However, these additional costs are generally offset by the fact that compliant vehicles may last longer, accommodate more children, and incur lower insurance costs than non-compliant vehicles.
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (Pub. L. 104-4) requires agencies to prepare an assessment of anticipated costs and benefits before proposing any rule that may result in an expenditure by State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of $100,000,000 or more in any one year (adjusted annually for inflation). This rule does not impose any mandates on State, local, or tribal governments, or the private sector that will result in an expenditure of $100,000,000 or more in any one year. Resources presently allocated by Head Start programs for transportation services are substantial and may be supplemented as necessary to meet additional requirements posed by the rule over the course of the implementation period.
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, 96, all Departments are required to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval any reporting or record-keeping requirement inherent in a proposed or final rule. This final rule contains no new information collection requirements.
List of Subjects in 45 CFR Part 1310 Back to Top
PART 1310—HEAD START TRANSPORTATION Back to Top
§ 1310.1 Purpose.
§ 1310.2 Applicability.
(b) Sections 1310.12(a) and 1310.22(a) of this part are effective January 18, 2006. Sections 1310.11 and 1310.15(c) of this part are effective January 20, 2004. Paragraph (c) of this section and § 1310.12(b) of this part are effective February 20, 2001. All other provisions of this part are effective January 18, 2002.
§ 1310.3 Definitions.
§ 1310.10 General.
(e) Each agency providing transportation services must ensure that any auxiliary seating, such as temporary or folding jump seats, used in vehicles of any type providing such services are built into the vehicle by the manufacturer as part of its standard design, are maintained in proper working order, and are inspected as part of the annual inspection required under § 1310.13(a) of this subpart.
§ 1310.11 Child Restraint Systems.
§ 1310.12 Required use of School Buses or Allowable Alternate Vehicles.
§ 1310.13 Maintenance of vehicles.
§ 1310.15 Operation of vehicles.
§ 1310.16 Driver qualifications.
§ 1310.17 Driver and bus monitor training.
(a) Each agency providing transportation services must ensure that persons employed to drive vehicles used in providing such services will have received the training required under paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section no later than 90 days after the effective date of this section as established by § 1310.2 of this part. The agency must ensure that drivers who are hired to drive vehicles used in providing transportation services after the close of the 90 day period must receive the training required under paragraphs (b) and (c) prior to transporting any child enrolled in the agency's program. The agency must further ensure that at least annually after receiving the training required under paragraphs (b) and (c), all drivers who drive vehicles used to provide such services receive the training required under paragraph (d) of this section.
Subpart C—Special Requirements Back to Top
§ 1310.20 Trip routing.
§ 1310.21 Safety education.
§ 1310.23 Coordinated transportation.
(3) where no coordinated public or private non-profit transportation system exists in the community, make every effort to identify other human services agencies also providing transportation services and, where reasonable, to participate in the establishment of a local transportation coordinating council.