SALT LAKE CITY — The Interim Steering Committee for the National Congress on School Transportation (NCST) is releasing an electronic version of the National School Transportation Specifications and Procedures document that has the 2015 revisions highlighted to states for limited use.

The document, which specifically shows what edits were made during the congress in May 2015, is intended for use by state directors of pupil transportation as they work with manufacturers and local governing entities to update individual state standards. The document will be forwarded to state contacts and will be available on the NCST website.

Additionally, the final document, which will have the edits incorporated but not highlighted, will be published in electronic format (PDF) and in the printed, bound manual, by the NCST Steering Committee and the selected publisher upon final approval. Only the final, published document, when available, should be considered official for legal or state regulatory purposes.

The final document is expected to be available in the next couple months, said Murrell Martin, the NCST Steering Committee chair and Utah state director of pupil transportation.

This is the first time that changes to the National School Transportation Specifications and Procedures have been highlighted and made available before the final publication is distributed, Martin explained.

“[Before,] the general industry and the states couldn’t access a document that showed them what the changes were, and when they got the printed one, the challenge was [finding] what changes were made,” he added. “In my own state, we’re really looking forward to now being able to have our committees look at it and focus very quickly on what the changes were.”

The Steering Committee also updated graphics and formatting to create a relevant and user-friendly document. Additionally, the electronic versions of both documents will also have a table of contents with active links to content in the first two levels of the content, to provide the industry with a progressive tool for daily use.  

Martin said that the Steering Committee gives special thanks to the Writing Committee chairs, the Editing Committee, professional staff, and consultants who assisted the Steering Committee with the steps required to move the project forward through different stages.