Special education advocates file new state complaint on bus service in Chicago Public Schools

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This story has been updated to include a response from Chicago Public Schools and additional information about the status of the complaint.

As Chicago Public Schools struggles to provide bus service to students with disabilities for the fourth year in a row, special education advocates are again calling for the Illinois State Board of Education to monitor student transportation services.

The advocates say CPS is violating a federal law that requires districts to provide transportation for students with disabilities if it is in their Individualized Education Programs. They say students need reliable transportation to go to school without disruptions and are urging the state board to monitor the district as it did in 2021 and 2022.

As of Sept. 4, the district reported 2,226 students with disabilities had yet to be routed. A spokesperson said the latest number includes new transportation requests, students who have been permanently approved for a stipend, and students who have been temporarily approved for a stipend but are waiting for a route. The district reported that 9,232 students had bus service as of Sept. 4, up from 8,782 students on Aug. 21.

In a letter to the state board, the Special Education Advocacy Coalition of Chicago, which advocates for special education, said it is worried that students who asked for bus service but were only able to receive a stipend to school either won’t attend school or that providing transportation will be an inconvenience to families.

“One of us has a client whose parent has a visual impairment and cannot benefit from the stipend,” the letter, sent at the end of the first week of school, said. “The young child is not currently attending school because the family has no financial resources to pay for a rideshare … twice a day.”

Two special education advocates, Miriam Bhimani and Terri Smith, also sent a complaint regarding transportation for students with Individualized Education Programs to the state board on Sept. 3, alleging the lack of bus service for these students amounts to a “widespread denial” of a “free appropriate public education,” which is guaranteed to students with disabilities under federal law.

Both Bhimani and Smith have filed similar complaints in previous years, which have led to the state monitoring transportation at the district. In 2021, the state board issued a corrective action plan because some students with disabilities did not have bus service. The following year, the state board issued a corrective action for bus routes that were 90 minutes or longer.

The state board eventually ended monitoring the district for transportation issues . In a letter from the state board in April, it said that Chicago made “sufficient progress” and “substantially corrected this issue on a systemic level.”

Their new complaint alleges that’s not the case. They cite hour-long wait times on the district’s Office of Transportation hotline and say parents are often unable to get useful information from district representatives.

In addition, the complaint says, a month before school started, parents received an email saying that in order to qualify for a transportation stipend, students with Individualized Education Programs had to have a request “on file” and live more than 5 miles away from their school. But in May – when the state ended oversight – the district told state officials that transportation requests were “not necessary for the implementation of services to begin, especially for students with disabilities.”

Bhimani and Smith received a letter from the Illinois State Board of Education late Monday saying it will investigate the concerns raised in their complaint, as required by federal law .

Earlier on Monday, a spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Education said in a statement to Chalkbeat that state officials are aware of the bus service challenges Chicago and other school districts are facing around the state. Before making any decisions on next steps, the state said that it will reach out to gather additional information.

In regards to Chicago, the spokesperson said, “We are staying informed of the situation and will determine the most appropriate course of action based on our ongoing review.”

A spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools said in a statement to Chalkbeat that district officials understand the frustration of families who have yet to receive bus service. The district said it will continue to look for ways to deal with the bus driver shortage.

“We understand that the progress we’ve made thus far - more eligible students on buses and more bus drivers than we had a year ago at this time - is not enough,” read the statement. “We remain dedicated to increasing our capacity with a focus on our eligible students with disabilities.”

Matt Cohen, a special education lawyer based in Chicago, said a disruption to education can cause issues down the line for students with disabilities and schools.

“It could be disrupted in terms of just an hour or two a day or it could be disrupted because they’re not getting to school at all,” said Cohen. “Then they don’t make progress, they start to fall apart, and then CPS has to come in and provide even more services to them.”

Last week, State Superintendent Tony Sanders and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona were in Chicago to visit Access Living, an organization that supports people with disabilities across the city.

Sanders said the lack of bus service is an issue for districts across the state due to a bus driver shortage. He said the challenge started during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Historically, we recruited people who retired from another job and wanted to take on the role of the bus driver. When COVID hit, a lot of those people decided that they didn’t want to come into the workforce and risk exposure,” said Sanders. He hopes that those drivers will return.

Troubles with student transportation in Chicago Public Schools magnified when students returned to the classroom in the fall of 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic eased and schools reopened classrooms.

As Chicago Public Schools scrambled to find bus drivers over the last few school years, some students with disabilities were unable to receive bus service and those who did sometimes experienced trips over 90 minutes.

At the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, district officials said CPS would stop offering bus service for general education students. The district planned to prioritize bus service for students with disabilities and students experiencing homelessness . Both groups are required by federal law to receive transportation.

Samantha Smylie is the state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering school districts across the state, legislation, special education and the state board of education. Contact Samantha at ssmylie@chalkbeat.org .