School bus drivers; drug and alcohol testing.

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(a) In order to coordinate state and federal efforts to insure the safety of school children, the Department of Education is authorized to contract for a program of drug and alcohol testing services necessary to enable public school districts, charter schools and any person or entity that contracts with a school district or charter school to provide transportation for state public school students to comply with such drug and alcohol testing requirements applicable to Delaware public school bus drivers as are now, or may hereafter be, imposed by federal law. Testing services shall be provided at no cost to the bus driver's employer. The nature and extent of testing services to be provided shall be at the discretion of the Department of Education, but shall include pre-employment, reasonable suspicion, random and post-accident testing for alcohol and controlled substances pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 31306 and the implementing regulations issued by the Secretary of Transportation of the United States pursuant thereto, as the same may from time to time subsequently be amended. In no event shall the Department of Education be responsible for the provision of any post-testing services either to a bus driver or to the driver's employer except to cause the results of such testing to be provided to the driver and to the driver's employer.

(b) Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to impose any additional obligation upon the employer of a public school bus driver beyond those obligations otherwise imposed upon such employer by state or federal law, or pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated in accordance with subsection (d) of this section.

(c) No person shall operate a public school bus while not in compliance with the provisions of all federal drug and alcohol testing requirements relevant to the drivers of Delaware public school buses and any regulations adopted by the Department of Education pursuant to this section.

(d) The Department of Education is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this section, including, without limitation, rules and regulations which:

(1) Require all employers of public school bus drivers in this State to participate in the testing program contracted for by the Department; and

(2) Require public school districts, charter schools and the employers of public school bus drivers to follow such procedures and to maintain such records as the Department deems necessary to insure that public school bus drivers are being tested in accordance with the provisions of federal drug and alcohol testing requirements.

(e) This section does not impose any additional obligations on a school district, charter school, or the Delaware Transit Corporation with a contract under § 2901(c) of this title beyond those obligations otherwise imposed upon the Delaware Transit Corporations under federal and state law.


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