CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There are more than 200 magnet public schools in North Carolina. These are schools that offer specialized courses of study that are not available in the regular schools. When it comes to getting kids to those magnet schools, do districts need to provide transportation?
THE QUESTION
Are school districts required to transport students who are attending a magnet school?
OUR SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, school districts are not required to transport students who attend magnet schools. However, many school districts like CMS will work hard to find a way to get students where they need to go.
WHAT WE FOUND
When it comes to transportation in North Carolina, state law does not require schools to provide transportation. The decision to provide transportation or not is up to each school district. According to the law, some factors that school boards can take into consideration are the availability of funding, the distance the student lives from the school, and the safety of walking or biking to the school.
The law also states if a student is assigned to a school, but the district cannot provide transportation to that student, the district can assign them to another school unless their guardian wants to keep them in the original school and provide their transportation.
"We work with families and students as best as we can," Miner said.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools covers more than 30,000 bus stops throughout the county, but the district said student who attend magnet schools can ride the bus if there's service available.
"If a student has expressed an intent to ride and there is bus service to the school they are zoned for, or for the magnet school they attend, they will be transported," the district said in a statement to WCNC Charlotte.
"A lot of that routing happens over the summer," Miner said. "Families can always request an alternative stop request on our website."
Contact Meghan Bragg at mbragg@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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