Transportation for Events

[MechEng83]

For the last several years, my team has used volunteer parents driving the 15 person "mid-busses" to get our students to and from competitions. We were recently informed that the new school district policy is that only district employees may drive any bus, for "insurance reasons." This loss of transportation option has created a problem we're attempting to address in our plans and budget. We have several options, each of which have their own drawbacks:

1. Parents can just drive students to all competitions. We do this for local off-season competitions or outreach events (within 30 miles), but for things where we really need to travel large distances or as a team, like regionals, it becomes a logistical nightmare.

2. Hire out a school driver and pay for the larger school bus. This is probably only practical with a 1-day type of event.

3. Hire a charter bus driver who would stay with the team for the entire competition. This is what we do for out-of-area competitions (like the World Championship), but it is an expensive option and we don't have unlimited funds.


My question to you all is: What is your school district policy on use of school busses, and what do you typically do for transportation to events?
Thanks.