A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate additional funds for school transportation and to study the allotment formula for school transportation funds, as recommended by the Joint Legislative Study Committee on Public school funding formulas.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of forty‑seven million dollars ($47,000,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to cover increased fuel costs for the transportation of pupils.
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of seven million five hundred thousand dollars ($7,500,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to a fuel reserve to cover any additional increases in fuel costs for the transportation of pupils.
SECTION 3.  The Joint Legislative Study Committee on Public School Funding Formulas, which was established on November 27, 2007, by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives pursuant to G.S. 120‑19.6(a1), Rule 31 of the Rules of the Senate of the 2007 General Assembly, and Rule 26(a) of the Rules of the House of Representatives of the 2007 General Assembly, shall examine the equity of the transportation of pupils allotment formula and develop options for:
(1)	Improving the formula's transparency and fairness, and
(2)	Limiting maximum ride times, while accounting for geographic barriers and other concerns.
SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2008.