We have been monitoring the implementation of ISBE’s guidance on the transportation of students in foster care under the Every Student Succeeds Act (“ESSA”). As we previously reported in the Extra Mile, ESSA requires that each local educational agency develop a plan and procedures “governing how transportation will be provided, arranged, and funded for students in foster care, in order to maintain students in their school of origin, should that be in their best interests.”
ISBE has announced the opening of its FY 2018 Foster Care Transportation Plan System, which is available through ISBE’s IWAS system. All school districts are to complete and submit the information required in the foster care transportation plan application regardless of whether or not a foster care student is currently being educated in the district.
