Department of Health and Human Services proposes new regulations for Head Start transportation
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed regulations incorporating a new definition of "good cause" for waivers from regulations requiring vehicles used to transport children enrolled in Head Start to have child restraint systems and adult monitors. These requirements were supposed to go into effect January 20, 2004, but in an Interim Rule summarized on the NSBA School Law pages, below, HHS extended the deadline until June 21, 2004, and allowed districts to seek extensions through January 18, 2006. The Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2006, enacted December 30, 2005, allows the Secretary of HHS to waive the requirements until September 30, 2006, under the following conditions: (1) the requirements pertain to the child restraint system or vehicle monitors; (2) the agency or entity demonstrates that compliance with such requirements will result in a significant disruption of the Head Start program; and (3) waiving the requirements is in the best interests of the children involved. HHS has proposed regulations incorporating a new definition of "good cause" for granting waivers on or after October 1, 2006. Unlike the current waiver authority found in the regulations, this new definition takes into account the costs of compliance. HHS indicates that these actions were necessary to address the significant financial impact the requirements were having on Head Start programs and school districts. Many Head Start agencies are local school systems that have agreed to provide free transportation services to enrolled Head Start children, and other agencies have arranged coordinated transportation services with local school districts, often receiving these services at no cost or reduced cost to the program. The proposed regulations also revise the definition of child restraint system to make it consistent with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Comments to the proposed rules are due July 31, 2006.
71 Fed. Reg. 30,645 (May 30, 2006)[HHS notice of proposed rulemaking][NSBA School Law pages on safety rules]