OH HB545

Increases state funding for pupil transportation by approximately $42 million in fiscal year 2027, raising the Pupil Transportation appropriation from $959.4 million to $1.001 billion

Establishes a $50 million School Bus Purchase grant program for fiscal year 2027 to help school districts replace their oldest and highest-mileage buses, with grants of at least $45,000 per bus

Increases reimbursement multipliers for transporting students to community schools, STEM schools, and nonpublic schools (from 1.5x to 2.0x for community/STEM schools and from 2.0x to 3.0x for nonpublic schools in fiscal year 2027)

Creates new requirements for chartered nonpublic schools to coordinate start and end times with school districts, allowing districts to establish "tiers of windows" for transportation scheduling and exempting districts from transporting students if schools refuse to adjust their schedules

Establishes compliance monitoring with financial penalties for school districts that consistently fail to provide required transportation, including deductions from state transportation payments for each day and each student not properly served