Next School Year, Parents Will Be Paid in New York State

Parents are going to get some money if they can drive their kids to school. A couple weeks ago, the Buffalo School Board approved over $800,000 to fund this program that would pay parents or guardians to drive the kids to school.

New York State is taking action when it comes to busses and now all districts, when purchasing a bus after 2027, it must be a zero emission or electric bus.

There is a school bus driver shortage that is making it very difficult for districts to get kids to school and start on time and they have had to get creative to solve the problem. Some parents, from parent driving programs have been reimbursed hundreds of dollars a week in order to take their kid to and from school.

Now there are many districts in certain locations in New York State who are offering and hoping that parents can help out and get reimbursed for driving.

The most that has been offered by a school district in New York State so far has been the Buffalo School district, which decided to launch a new program this year called the Parent Transportation Reimbursement Program and it pays the parent 62.5 cents per mile that they drive their kid from school every single day. For example here is how the program has worked in the past:

• Eligibility: Must have a student eligible for BPS-provided bus transportation who resides in Buffalo.
• Reimbursement Rate: $0.625 per mile driven while transporting students, according to IRS standards.
• Application: Parents must opt-out of bus service for both morning/afternoon or just one to participate.

How much would parents be paid to drive their kids to school?

• 62.5 cents per mile
• Only 1,500 parents will be picked.
• On average the average route to school is 3 miles one way, so 6 miles round trip.

There is technology that will be in place to make sure there is accountability and no lying.

There is a company that the Buffalo School District is hiring in order to oversee the paying and distances each parent will drive.