Massachusetts to pay back 22 school districts for cost of busing emergency shelter students
BOSTON - Massachusetts is offering a new pilot program to quickly reimburse some school districts that are facing a big increase in transportation costs because they're busing students living in emergency shelters.
The move helps 22 smaller districts across the state. Without this program, the districts would have had to wait until next spring to be paid back for the increased busing costs. Many just didn't have the money in their small budgets to cover the increase.
In addition to the busing money, the state is providing all schools with emergency aid for enrollment and other extra costs for educating the students living in shelters at a rate of $104 per student, per day.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is also giving grants to districts of up to $1,000 per student housed in emergency shelters within a district.