HI SB2330

Appropriates $10,000,000 from general revenues for fiscal year 2024-2025 to the Department of Education to strengthen student transportation services.

Funds may be used for differential pay increases for school bus drivers, purchasing alternative vehicles (motor coaches, minibuses, vans), paying educational staff or eligible community members to operate vehicles, reimbursing schools for additional transportation services, and establishing other programs in rural and disadvantaged areas.

Addresses chronic bus driver shortages that have led to cancellation or consolidation of school bus routes, with approximately 225 driver positions vacant out of 650 statewide as of the 2023-2024 school year.

Notes that in July 2023, fourteen schools had bus service cancelled or suspended, impacting approximately 1,400 students on Oahu and Kauai, with particular hardship on Hawaii Island where county bus services are limited.

Takes effect on July 1, 2024, with acknowledgment that the appropriation will exceed the state general fund expenditure ceiling for fiscal year 2024-2025.