Are 6th-grade students at Florida middle schools entitled to school-transportation when there are hazardous walking conditions?

Plain-English summary

Florida statutes generally do not require districts to provide transportation to public-school students who live within two miles of their school. There's an exception: if the route is "hazardous walking conditions," the district has to bus the student. The hazardous-walk provisions appear in §§ 1006.21, 1006.23, and 1011.68, all of which include the same eligibility limit: only "public elementary school students whose grade level does not exceed grade 6" qualify.

The City of Jacksonville's general counsel asked whether the words "whose grade level does not exceed grade 6" included 6th-graders attending middle schools. In Duval County, all middle schools start at 6th grade, and roughly 90% of public elementary schools end at 5th grade. So the practical question was whether 6th-graders walking to middle schools through hazardous routes had to be bused.

The AG read the statutes literally. The qualifying language is "public elementary school students whose grade level does not exceed grade 6." That phrase modifies the kind of school first ("public elementary school students") and the grade level second. A 6th-grader attending a middle school is not a "public elementary school student" at all, regardless of grade. So the mandate doesn't reach 6th-graders in middle schools.

The AG anchored that reading in Florida's general definitions of "school", § 1003.01(2) and § 1000.41(1), both of which distinguish elementary, middle, and high schools as separate categories. Footnote 1 added that "[t]here are at least 24 other Florida statutes that similarly distinguish between elementary and middle schools."

The opinion addresses mandatory application of those three statutes to 6th-graders in middle schools. It does not address whether a district may provide transportation voluntarily, whether other funding categories apply, or whether municipal action could affect transportation.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2018. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: When did Florida law require districts to bus students who lived within two miles of school?
A: The letter concerns the hazardous-walking provisions for students living within two miles of school. It says students covered by the provisions are "public elementary school students whose grade level does not exceed grade 6." It does not catalog every other ground for transportation.

Q: Did the hazardous-walk mandate cover all grades?
A: No. The mandate covered only "public elementary school students whose grade level does not exceed grade 6." That meant the rule was tied to both grade level and school type.

Q: Why not just look at grade level?
A: The AG read "public elementary school students whose grade level does not exceed grade 6" as requiring both elementary-school attendance and a grade no higher than six. The letter notes that Florida's statutory definitions distinguish elementary from middle schools.

Q: Did Florida law define "elementary school"?
A: No, the Florida Statutes did not contain an express definition of "elementary school." The AG inferred meaning from § 1003.01(2) (defining "school" by reference to elementary, middle, junior high, secondary, or high-school levels) and § 1000.04(1) (listing elementary, middle, and high school grades as separate components of public K-12 education).

Q: Did the opinion decide whether a district may still bus 6th-graders at middle schools?
A: No. It says only that sections 1006.21, 1006.23, and 1011.68 do not require transportation for those students on the hazardous-walking ground discussed. It gives no opinion on voluntary service or another funding category.

Q: What about municipal action?
A: The Jacksonville City Council requested the letter through its general counsel, but the response did not address a city's authority to provide or fund transportation.

Background and statutory framework

The letter says section 1006.21 directs the superintendent to ascertain which students are entitled to transportation and the board to provide it for students facing hazardous walking conditions under section 1006.23. Section 1006.23 sets criteria and procedures for evaluating a route and provides for state funds for eligible students. Section 1011.68 identifies categories of public-school students entitled to transportation. The letter points out that all three provisions use the same "public elementary school students whose grade level does not exceed grade 6" limit for students living within two miles of school.

The letter reads the repeated eligibility language alongside statutory definitions that distinguish elementary and middle schools. Its footnote says at least 24 other Florida statutes make a similar distinction.

The letter does not discuss the Legislature's reason for the distinction or decide any transportation option outside the mandatory application of these provisions.

Citations and references

Statutes:

• § 1006.21, Fla. Stat. (Duties of district school superintendent and school principals)
• § 1006.23, Fla. Stat. (Hazardous walking conditions)
• § 1011.68, Fla. Stat. (Allocation for student transportation)
• § 1003.01, Fla. Stat. (Definitions, K-12)
• § 1000.04, Fla. Stat. (Definition of public K-12 education)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.myfloridalegal.com/ag-opinions/school-transportation
• Official print view: https://www.myfloridalegal.com/print/pdf/node/8029

Original opinion text

Mr. Jason R. Gabriel

General Counsel, City of Jacksonville

City Hall, St. James Building

117 West Duval Street, Suite 480

Jacksonville, Florida 32202

Dear Mr. Gabriel:

We are in receipt of your letter on behalf of the Jacksonville City Council, asking whether the definition of "student" in section 1006.23(1), Florida Statutes, includes 6th-grade students in middle school or only students up to 5th grade in K-5 elementary schools. Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked me to respond to your question.

Section 1006.21, Florida Statutes (2017), directs the district school superintendent to ascertain which students are entitled to transportation to school or school activities, and directs the district school board to provide transportation when students are subjected to hazardous walking conditions en route to school according to section 1006.23. Section 1006.23, Florida Statutes (2017), sets forth the criteria and procedure to be used to evaluate whether a route is hazardous for students walking to school. It provides in paragraph (4)(c) that "[s]tate funds shall be allocated for the transportation of students subjected to a hazardous walking condition." The allocation of funds for student transportation set forth in section 1011.68, Florida Statutes (2017), identifies students subjected to hazardous walking conditions as one of the categories of public school students entitled to transportation.

Each of these statutes contains a provision – paragraphs 1006.21(3)(b), 1006.23(1), and 1011.68(1)(e) – expressly specifying that the students who live within two miles of their public schools who are entitled to transportation to school because of hazardous walking conditions, must be "public elementary school students whose grade level does not exceed grade 6."

You inform this office that 90 percent of the public elementary schools in Duval County contain grades 1 through 5, and all of the public middle schools begin at grade 6. You question whether students in 6th grade who are attending public middle schools must be provided transportation when they are subjected to hazardous walking conditions.

Although there is no definition of "elementary school" within the Florida Statutes, the definitions of "school" in sections 1003.01(2) and 1000.41(1), Florida Statutes (2017), clearly show that there is a distinction between elementary and middle schools within Florida public K-12 education. The term "school" is defined in section 1003.01(2) as "an organization of students for instructional purposes on an elementary, middle or junior high school, secondary or high school, or other public school level authorized under rules of the State Board of Education." Section 1000.04(1) provides that public K-12 schools shall include, in part, "elementary, middle, and high school grades and special classes[.]"[1]

The statutes that require the provision of transportation when there are hazardous walking conditions – sections 1006.21, 1006.23, and 1011.68 – apply to students who are in 6th grade only when the 6th grade is within an elementary school, which therefore precludes the mandatory application of such statutes to students who are in 6th grade within a middle school.

Sincerely,

Ellen B. Gwynn

Senior Assistant Attorney General

EBG/tsh

________________

[1] There are at least 24 other Florida statutes that similarly distinguish between elementary and middle schools.