The first school day in Canyons is rolling up quickly – students in first- through 12^th grades return to classes on Wednesday, Aug. 19 – and the District’s Transportation Department is hard at work preparing for the 2015-2016 school year.

Utah laws governing transportation funding may affect some Canyons District students, particularly middle school-aged children, so parents are encouraged to review their child’s transportation plans for the coming school year.   

Canyons District receives state funding for busing provided to students enrolled in kindergarten through sixth grade who live at least 1.5 miles from school and to students enrolled in grade seven through 12 who live at least 2 miles from school. 

This means that some middle school students who qualified for busing last year may not qualify again this year because they have advanced to the seventh grade and must live more than 2 miles away from the school to receive the services. 

Also, in the past, Canyons District has spent some $1.3 million to provide unreimbursed transportation services to neighborhoods where it would have been hazardous for the children to walk to school.

This year, Canyons District has slightly reduced the number of within-walking-distance bus routes that are designated as hazardous based on the risk to our pedestrian students as they negotiate the roads. Improvements made to walkways or roads, or the addition of crosswalks and crossing guards, have led to the removal of routes from the “hazardous route” list for the coming school year.

However, students who don’t qualify for transportation services are invited to submit a request for busing services so they can ride with their qualifying siblings or neighbors – if there is space available on the nearest bus. The “space-available permits” will be granted on a first-come, first-served, space-available basis.

Permit applications will be made available at schools at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4. The permit applications must be submitted to the school where the student child is enrolled. 

Families will be notified about whether they have received a permit to ride the bus by Sept. 14.