115C-246. School bus routes.

(a) The superintendent of the local school administrative unit shall, prior to the commencement of each regular school year, prepare a plan for a definite route, including stops for receiving and discharging pupils, for each school bus so as to assure the most efficient use of such bus and the safety and convenience of the pupils assigned thereto. The superintendent may, in his discretion, obtain the advice of the State Board of Education with reference to the plan. The buses shall be operated upon the route so established and not otherwise, except as provided in this Article. From time to time the principal may suggest changes in any such bus route as he shall deem proper for the said purposes, and the same shall be effective when approved by the superintendent of the local school administrative unit.

(b) Unless road or other conditions make it inadvisable, public school buses shall be routed on state-maintained highways, municipal streets, or other streets with publicly dedicated right-of-way. The local board of education shall not be responsible for damage to the roadway. Each public school bus shall be routed so that the bus passes within one mile of the residence of each pupil assigned to that bus. A pupil who lives one and one-half miles or more from the school to which the pupil is assigned shall be eligible for school bus transportation.

(c) All bus routes when established pursuant to this section shall be filed in the office of the board of education of the local school administrative unit, and all changes made therein shall be filed in the office of such board within 10 days after such change shall become effective.

(d) Repealed by Session Laws 1985 (Regular Session, 1986), c. 975, s. 24.

(e) No provision of this Article shall be construed to place upon the State, or upon any county or city, any duty to supply any funds for the transportation of pupils, or any duty to supply funds for the transportation of pupils who live within the corporate limits of the city or town in which is located the public school in which such pupil is enrolled or to which such pupil is assigned, even though transportation to or from such school is furnished to pupils who live outside the limits of such city or town.