A note on transportation reimbursements

This piece about Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan discussing a home rule petition on transportation led me to tweet out this thread this morning, as it appears that two things are being confused. 

First, student transportation doesn't count towards net school spending in any district. Net school spending is specifically defined in 603 CMR 10.06, and it's standard: there isn't a difference between a regional and a municipal school district. There's a handful of things it doesn't include--crossing guards and building rentals are two others--and that's the case for every district.

What is different between municipal and regional district transportation is state reimbursement. Regional districts, under MGL Ch. 71, sec. 16C, have a requirement as to whom they furnish transportation and it is state reimbursed:

...the commonwealth shall reimburse such district to the full extent of the amounts expended for such transportation, subject to appropriation; provided, however, that no reimbursement for transportation between school and home shall be made on account of any pupil who resides less than one and one-half miles from the school of attendance, measured by a commonly traveled route.

The required transportation is reimbursed by the state, generally at about 75%, though this year it is projected to be 90%. 

Municipal districts--indeed, all districts--likewise have a transportation requirement, and, under MGL Ch. 71, sec. 7A, the state is also to reimburse them:

The state treasurer shall annually, on or before November twentieth, pay to the several towns subject to appropriation, the sums required as reimbursement for expenses approved by the commissioner of education,

The section does provide limitations on what is eligible for reimbursement--more than one and a half miles, for one--in the rest of the section.
That, however, is not ever, within my memory funded.

That led to one of the more startling charts from former Auditor Suzanne Bump's final report on state and local partnerships, in the section on school transportation: 

Just for perspective. 

 Frequently, the "deal" that regional transportation would be reimbursed in exchange for transportation reimbursement is cited; I think this may solely source to whose advantage regionalization is. Sometimes size is cited, and yes, there are geographically large regionals. There are also geographically small regionals, and geographically large municipals. It doesn't make for a neat argument in really any direction.