Amanda has a disability that requires a specialized placement across the county. Right now, she spends nearly two hours each way on a school bus — arriving exhausted, losing instructional time before she even walks through the door. With alternative transportation matched to her route, Amanda could be in her classroom in 35 minutes, ready to learn.
Our Mission: To ensure every student in New Jersey has a safe, reliable way to get to school — no matter where they live, what school they attend, or what challenges they face.
NJ FASST exists because New Jersey’s current rules for student transportation are not working for the students who need the most help. Our mission is to modernize the regulatory framework so that every district has the tools, the flexibility, and the resources to get every student safely to school.
We are not anti-bus. We are pro-student. The rules governing how New Jersey transports its children must reflect the diverse realities of today’s students — not the simpler world those rules were written for decades ago.
The Three Pillars of Our Advocacy
PILLAR 1: AFFORDABILITY
Student transportation is one of the largest line items in a school district’s budget — and budgets across New Jersey are under severe pressure. Deploying a full-size school bus with a CDL-holding driver for a single student on a specialized route costs significantly more than necessary. According to the Chamber of Progress, alternative transportation models for these trip types can reduce costs by approximately 67 percent.
PILLAR 2: SAFETY
Safety is the foundation of everything NJ FASST advocates for. Leading alternative transportation providers operate under rigorous safety frameworks that include:
- Multi-layer background checks: national criminal history, sex offender registry, county records, and child abuse/neglect checks.
- Continuous MVR monitoring: automated systems that flag arrests, suspensions, and violations in real time — not in annual point-in-time reviews.
- Real-time GPS tracking on every trip, with data accessible to the district and live tracking for parents and guardians.
- Daily electronic pre-trip and post-trip vehicle inspection logs, maintained digitally and available for audit.
- Driver training that covers disability awareness, trauma-informed care, behavioral de-escalation, and child safety restraint systems — areas not addressed by the CDL “S” endorsement exam.
PILLAR 3: FLEXIBILITY
Students experiencing homelessness may need to be picked up from a new address with little or no notice. Under the federal McKinney-Vento Act, districts are legally required to provide this transportation. Students in foster care face similar instability. Students with IEPs often require door-to-door, individualized service that standard bus routes cannot accommodate.
NJ FASST advocates for a regulatory framework that allows districts to use vetted, contracted alternative transportation providers — small-capacity vehicles, screened and trained drivers — as a complement to, not a replacement for, traditional yellow bus service. More than two-thirds of U.S. states have already built this flexibility into their systems. New Jersey must catch up.
As Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh has noted: “Our special needs students often require additional hands-on, transportation-related care, and we struggle to meet this gap in need.” That gap is exactly what NJ FASST is working to close."
What We Are Asking For
NJ FASST is calling on Governor Sherrill and the New Jersey Legislature to:
- Update New Jersey law to explicitly permit alternative transportation providers to serve students requiring individualized service — including McKinney-Vento students, students in foster care, and students with IEP-mandated transportation.
- Require New Jersey’s Department of Education to allow districts to safely use vetted contractors for the students who need them most.
- Establish rigorous, technology-enabled safety standards for alternative transportation providers — including continuous driver monitoring, GPS tracking, and vehicle inspection requirements.
- Enable shared-services and cooperative purchasing arrangements — including through Educational Services Commissions — so districts can access alternative transportation efficiently and at lower cost.
Real Impact for New Jerseyans
Behind every policy debate are real children, real families, and real school administrators doing their best with an outdated system. Here is what modernizing New Jersey’s student transportation rules would mean for them.
Michael’s family lost their housing in October. Under McKinney-Vento, his district is required to keep him in his school of origin — but his new shelter is three towns away, and there’s no bus route that works. Without a flexible transportation option, Michael misses school. With one, he shows up every day.
Keisha is a Newark mother who knows her neighborhood and wants flexible work that fits around her kids' school day. As a vetted alternative transportation driver, she earns meaningful income doing something she believes in — getting vulnerable students safely to school — while building a track record in her community. New Jersey's current rules make that opportunity impossible. Modernizing them opens the door.
Newark’s transportation office coordinates hundreds of individualized routes for students with IEPs and McKinney-Vento students. Deploying full-size school buses for single-student runs is expensive and inflexible. Access to vetted alternative transportation providers means more coverage, lower costs, and fewer gaps — with the same rigorous safety standards.
Every dollar spent on an oversized bus making a single-student run is a dollar not spent in a classroom. Modernizing New Jersey’s transportation rules isn’t just about students — it’s about making sure public dollars work as hard as they can for every family in this state.
The Problem with Student Transportation in New Jersey
New Jersey’s student transportation statute — N.J.S.A. 18A:39 — was largely designed around traditional yellow bus service. For most students and most routes, that model works. But for students with the most complex needs, it falls dangerously short.
In 2024, Governor Murphy’s conditional veto of A2180/S3000 created a narrow opening: districts can now designate “school personnel” to transport students in small vehicles when drivers meet key safeguards. But NJDOE’s proposed regulations define “school personnel” narrowly as district employees only — excluding vetted contracted providers who already serve students in schools across the state and can meet the same safety requirements. The fix is straightforward: update the statute to explicitly include district-contracted personnel and align NJDOE’s rules accordingly.
Why the Status Quo Fails Vulnerable Students
- McKinney-Vento students may need transportation to their school of origin from a new address with no notice. A rigid bus-only system cannot respond — and failure to transport means chronic absenteeism and potentially losing the only stable institution in a child’s life.
- Students with IEPs requiring out-of-district placements often travel 30 to 80 miles per trip. A full-size school bus for a single student is inefficient, expensive, and sometimes logistically impossible.
- Current regulations require even sedans and minivans transporting students to carry school-transportation plates and CDL-licensed drivers — creating unnecessary barriers for districts trying to serve small numbers of students on individualized routes.
What the Data Shows
63%
of NJ voters support allowing schools to use alternative transportation for homeless and disabled students
(FDU Poll, March 2026)
67%
estimated cost savings per specialized route when matched to right-sized alternative transportation
(Chamber of Progress)
2/3+
of U.S. states have built frameworks permitting alternative transportation for students with disabilities and students experiencing homelessness
New Jersey Lags Behind
States including Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland have all developed frameworks that allow specialized student transportation providers to serve specific student populations with smaller vehicles. These are established, regulated, proven systems working for students right now. New Jersey has not acted. It is past time we catch up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is alternative student transportation?
Alternative student transportation is home-to-school and school-to-home service provided by vetted drivers in small-capacity passenger vehicles — typically sedans, SUVs, or minivans seating no more than eight passengers. It operates under contract with a school district or local education agency and is designed to supplement, not replace, traditional yellow bus service. It is most commonly used for students whose needs don’t fit a standard route: students experiencing housing instability, students in foster care, and students whose IEPs require individualized or door-to-door service.
Q: Is alternative transportation safe?
Yes — when properly regulated. Reputable alternative transportation providers operate under safety frameworks that meet or exceed the substantive protections applied to traditional school bus drivers, right-sized to the vehicle. Standard practices include multi-layer background checks; continuous motor vehicle record monitoring that flags new violations in real time; drug and alcohol testing; annual vehicle safety inspections plus daily electronic pre-trip and post-trip logs; real-time GPS tracking with district access; and live ride tracking and notifications for parents on every trip.
Driver training programs for alternative transportation providers also typically go further than CDL endorsement requirements in areas directly relevant to student welfare — including disability awareness, trauma-informed care, behavioral de-escalation, and child safety restraint systems.
Q: How does alternative transportation save money for school districts?
The cost savings are structural. Traditional school buses — with CDL drivers, fuel, and large vehicle overhead — are an expensive solution for a single student on a specialized route. Alternative transportation eliminates that mismatch. According to the Chamber of Progress, districts using alternative transportation for specialized routes can reduce costs by approximately 67 percent. Savings are most significant for McKinney-Vento students and students with IEP-mandated out-of-district placements, where individual routes can span 30 to 80 miles.
Q: Can alternative transportation be integrated into New Jersey’s existing oversight system?
Yes. New Jersey’s Office of School Bus Safety currently tracks school bus drivers and approved school personnel through an annual certification process. There is no structural reason why drivers serving students through a vetted alternative transportation provider could not be integrated into this system — giving the state a single consolidated view of everyone authorized to transport students, regardless of vehicle type. Technology-enabled providers maintain driver credential data digitally and can provide regular updates to state systems, a significant improvement over the current annual submission process.
Q: How does this work in other states?
More than two-thirds of U.S. states have developed frameworks allowing specialized student transportation providers to serve specific student populations with smaller vehicles. States including Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland have established rigorous driver screening, background checks, GPS tracking, and real-time accountability measures. Multiple states also enable districts to share contracted services through cooperative purchasing or regional service agencies, creating economies of scale. New Jersey can and should build a comparable framework.
Q: How can I get involved?
Sign up for our mailing list to receive updates, contact your state legislator to let them know student transportation reform matters, or reach out directly about adding your organization’s voice to our coalition.