MD Court of Appeals: "Transportation is an Integral Part of Education"

Can Maryland counties charge students a fee to ride public school buses? 


In 1996 the Board of Education's own attorney cited Maryland case law that stated that transportation was "an integral part of education." The Board's attorney said, "The current statutory framework in Maryland would appear to preclude the imposition of user fees for school bus transportation to public school students by a local board of education."


Here is what the Court of Appeals of Maryland  has said about transportation of students: 

Vast numbers of children are transported to schools in buses today. Schools have become larger and larger in size with the consolidation of schools. The importance of transportation as an element in education has been recognized by the mandate of the General Assembly that the cost of transporting children to the public schools be borne by the State. Thus, under the authority of Clauss, we have no difficulty in concluding that such transportation is an integral part of education as we know it today.   McCarthy v. Board of Education of Anne Arundel County et al., 280 Md. 634, 649 (1977).