Two pupil transportation issues will be considered by the State Board of Education at their upcoming meeting May 3-4, 2006.

The consultant study of the transportation funding formula study will be presented for action on the first reading so that the report may be sent to the General Assembly. The report was prepared by Management Partnership Services and includes the results of the listening sessions as well as analysis of the existing formula and recommendations for the future. The board is not expected to actually implement results at this time, but to hear the recommendations and consider them for future implementation. The PowerPoint presentation of this report is linked at the end of this article. The recommendations will be shared with the NCASA Transportation Advisory Council later in May.

The board will also receive information for NC BUS FLEET: North Carolina Vehicle Fleet Manual. The "Fleet Manual" included the work done by the committee charged with revising the 1997 Preventive Maintenance Manual and by the committee charged with creating the School Bus Inspection Manual. It also includes DPI vehicle purchase, replacement and surplus policies. A draft of this manual is also linked at the end of this article. The board is expected to vote on accepting this manual into State Board of Education Policy at the June meeting.

Information about the State Board of Education, including its meeting schedule and on-line broadcast can be found at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/sbe_meetings/index.html