Only 42.5 percent of New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) high school families have responded so far to the district’s new opt-in busing system for the 2026-27 school year. The deadline for the district’s 5,092 enrolled high school families to reply 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.

Opt-In Plan Details

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.” Students who sign up must agree to ride the bus at least three times per week. Magnet and inter-district high schoolers need to opt in to busing, but charter, private, and tech school students do not.

Original reporting: New Haven Independent — read the source article.