Roughly 42.5 percent of New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) high school families — or 2,164 in total — have responded to the district’s bus opt-in survey, thereby confirming their interest in receiving bus transportation for the 2026-27 school year.
The deadline for the district’s 5,092 enrolled high school families to reply to that opt-in survey is Thursday.
NHPS Supt. Madeline Negrón officially announced the new opt-in busing system in May. It comes as NHPS has identified transportation as a growing budget concern.
As of April 30, NHPS had forecast that its transportation line item would be $12.7 million over budget — meaning that NHPS expects to spend a total of $42 million this school year on student transportation. The opt-in plan was identified as a cost-saving effort as NHPS deals with the rising cost of transportation.
The school district first provided the opt-in link to families on May 28 in a message that stated that “bus seats will be given only to families who ask for them.”
That message continued: “To get an assigned bus for the 2026–2027 school year, you must fill out the opt-in survey. You can find the survey link below. Students who sign up must agree to ride the bus at least three (3) times per week.”
Click here to opt in or out of bus service for the 2026-27 school year, and click here to read an article about the district’s decision to adopt this system.
NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon also told the Independent Tuesday that magnet and inter-district high schoolers need to opt in to busing, but charter, private, and tech school students do not.
“Charter, private, and tech schools operate outside our aegis, so we cannot mandate an opt-in policy for them,” Harmon wrote. “That said, those parents can and often do opt out by declining to register with us.”
This article has been updated to confirm that everyone who responds to the district’s survey is opting in to receiving bus transportation for the 2026-27 school year.