COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. Ted Strickland on Saturday signed the state’s transportation bill for fiscal years 2008 and 2009.

Among other actions, the bill creates higher standards for school bus drivers, requiring bus owners to obtain seven-year driving record checks on all of their drivers and annual records thereafter. Current policy requires a six-year review.

School districts and lawmakers realized that the backgrounds of drivers employed by bus companies were not being checked thoroughly after the January arrest of a Columbus bus driver for alleged drug possession on the job.

The bill also prohibits bus owners from permitting any person to drive a bus for seven years after any six-point traffic violation, including driving under the influence or committing a vehicular felony.

Strickland issued a line-item veto of a provision that would have allowed charter schools to establish their own transportation systems and would have required the Ohio Department of Education to pay charter schools the per-pupil amount that would otherwise be paid to students’ native school district for transportation.

Strickland cited concerns from some districts that the measure could have had a significant financial impact, diverting state dollars away from school district budgets.