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School Trips

Board Policy

WCPSS School Board Policy "5430 - School Trips" and the associtaed Regulations and Procedures (R&P) document contain the latest School Board Policy information about field trips.

Request for Prior Approval

Most travel reimbursements must be proceeded by a Request for Prior Approval Form filed with the CTE Office at least 30 days prior top the date of the travel.

See the list of CTE reimbursable activities to see which activities are preapproved.

Activity Buses

CTE and STC funds can be used to pay for the use of a school-owned activity bus for approved CTE and STC activities.

An Activity Bus is a bus that is owned by a school. An activity bus is not a regular yellow school bus.

If your school does not charge you to use the school's activity bus, then you do not need to follow this procedure requesting funds.

At least thirty days prior to the event, complete a Request for Prior Approval Form.

Get an estimate of bus charges from the transportation person at your school. Put this amount on the Prior Approval form.

After the event you should receive a bill/invoice from your school for the use of the activity bus. Download a Request For Direct Payment form (Excel 24K) and complete it.

  1. Put your name on the ATTENTION line at the top right on the form. This name should match the name on the Prior Approval form that was submitted before the event.
  2. Put the number of miles in the QTY column
  3. Put a description in the DESCRIPTION column (example: Activity Bus to WakeMed open house on 11/3/2007)
  4. Put the cost per mile in the UNIT PRICE column (this is usually $2.50, but will vary by school)
  5. Calculate the total cost and put that in the Amount column. This amount should match the total amount on the bill/invoice from your school.
  6. Skip a few rows and then in the DESCRIPTION column put "Transfer to Account xx.xxxx.xxx.xxx.xxxx.xxxx.xxx" (insert your school activity bus budget code in place of the Xs).
    Do NOT put your school budget code in any of the four Budget Code boxes near the top of the form. Those boxes are for where the funds are coming from, not to where the funds are going.
  7. Sign the line above "I certify that all of the above goods or services have been received."
  8. Make a copy of the Request For Direct Payment form to keep for your records.
  9. Send the completed Request For Direct Payment form and the bill/invoice (activity bus report) from the school to the CTE Director's Secretary. The bill/invoice must show the total charges.

Activity Bus Drivers

CTE and STC funds can NOT be used to pay for a WCPSS Transportation Department bus driver (yellow bus driver) to drive your school's activity bus.

If your bus driver is a teacher, and the bus trip occurs during school hours, CTE and STC funds can be used to pay for a substitute teacher for the bus driver. Follow the Request for Leave process.

CTE and STC funds can NOT be used to pay for a bus driver other than to provide a substitute teacher for the driver.

Yellow Bus Payments (Important new changes for 2007-08)

Yellow buses and yellow bus drivers will no longer be funded by CTE or STC.

Yellow buses and yellow bus drivers that are paid for by the school can NOT be reimbursed by CTE or STC.

Charter Buses

For bus trips longer than an hour each direction, you may want to use a charter bus. WCPSS maintains a list of WCPSS approved charter bus companies (PDF 15 KB) that meet the specifications of the school system. (J&R Charter Services, Inc was on the approved list, but is no longer approved.) This list is updated every year.

Service contracts are not needed for charter buses that are on the approved list.

Bus companies typically want to get paid before the trip. Some require payment in full several days before the trip.

  1. Get a price quote from the bus company.
  2. Complete a Prior Approval Form that indicates the total cost for the bus.
  3. If the total amount for the charter bus service is less than $2500, then use a Request For Direct Payment form (Excel 24K). If the total amount is greater than $2500, then use a Purchase Order Request form (Excel 168K).
  4. Send the price quote, Prior Approval form, and the Direct Payment or Purchase Order form to the CTE Director's Secretary.
  5. If the funding is approved, you will receive a signed Prior Approval form in the mail.

CTSO Trips

Detailed procedures about spending CTSO funds on CTSO activities can be found on the CTSO Fund page.

Substitute Teachers

substitute teachers info

Chaperones

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This page was last updated on Oct 20, 2009