TEA ~ Transportation Reporting Simplified

1. TEA ~ Transportation Reporting Simplified Sub-Committee Members: Marisa Weisinger, Terry Penn, John Escamilla, Charles Polk, Angie Sherman, Pam West, Rick Terrell, Kris Hafezi, and Tony Keeler January 23, 2009 ~ Austin, Texas

2. Sub-Committee Charge • Simplify Head Count Procedures • Minimize Reporting Draft recommendation document for the Commissioner Develop outlines, bullet points, etc. Answer questions raised at previous meetings

3. Simplify Head Count Procedures Recommendations: Allow Districts the flexibility of determining ‘which’ day of the month (in addition to which 2 months) they perform and report (highest) student head counts Benefits: Maximizes Linear Density Perform simple tally head count of the total ridership per bus route. Omit the need to identify the individual student with the monthly head count. (Provide an eligible rider list per bus route at the beginning of the year) Consider utilizing percentage of ADA or enrollment based on district’s history of eligible ridership Benefits: Eliminates time constraint on bus route to perform student head count on count days Head Counts for Regular Standard only

4. Simplify Head Count Procedures Recommendations (continued): Utilize PEIMS information for determining number of enrolled eligible students Eliminate duplication of reporting effort by enhancing (add codes) the PEIMS code to allow reporting of eligible riders and operations costs based on attendance. (Realizing eligibility would have to be determined through routing software or registrar entering information in PEIMS) Benefit: Eliminates driver responsibility of attendance and human error of taking attendance. Investigate all existing technology/software for reporting purposes

5. Minimize Reporting Recommendations: • Allow districts to utilize actual routes provided to drivers for state route accounting purposes. Benefit: Greater transparency. Actual reporting of numbers of miles and number of students Eliminate modifications necessary to generate state routes • Dead Head • Campus to Campus • Phantom Routes • Allow districts to report and receive reimbursement for miles incurred from transportation facility to transportation facility

6. Minimize Reporting Recommendations: (continued) Allow districts the option of reporting campus to campus, first student picked up to campus served, OR facility to facility (preservation of linear density status). (Reporting method of “last campus served” does not reflect true route service mileage.) Return to practice of allowing the worksheets to be optional for the school district. Worksheet a tool only and not mandatory. Eliminate need for Operations Report by reporting from PEIMS data. Report totals only – not details (ex: tenth of mile) Fund all hazardous as approved school district board and reported to TEA (not just 10 percent)

7. Minimize Reporting ~ Guidance Recommendations: • Procedural guidance for completion of state funding reports should reside in one document. Guidance should be clear, concise, and list all applicable references. • Training and assistance should be provided directly and freely through the TEA to all filing agencies. • Fund up front • Procedural guidance for not reporting certain routes to increase linear density. Failure to report true numbers re: miles traveled and students transported for statewide data. • Identify standard annual cycle for reporting Route Service and Ops reports.