Federal law does not require school boards to provide transportation for all students. But the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) entitles students with disabilities to transportation to and from school if the students' disabilities make it difficult for them to get to school; from, in, and around the buildings where they attend…

Historical overview considers the role of transportation in education before 1954, when school busing was used to improve education by consolidating rural schools and centralize effort in urban schools, and after the 1954 Supreme Court decision that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal. Different attitudes toward forced busing are…