What changed for 2026-27
In April 2024 the Jefferson County Board of Education voted to end busing to most magnet and traditional schools (Spectrum News, July 2026 (opens in a new tab)). Some service has come back since. Then, on August 2, 2026, the New TARC Network launched. It still serves all 10 JCPS magnet high schools, and no longer serves Doss, Eastern, Fern Creek, Moore or Southern high schools (TARC (opens in a new tab)). JCPS says Eastern will run an activity bus.
Who gets a JCPS bus in 2026-27
| Grade band or school | Distance rule | How it's measured | Exceptions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any grade, at your resides school (the one your address is assigned to) | Every student, per the notice; no distance rule is listed | ||
| Central High and Western High | Every student | ||
| Grace James Academy, W.E.B. DuBois, Newcomer, Liberty, TAPP, Phoenix School of Discovery, Waller-Williams, Breckinridge Metropolitan, Minor Daniels | Every student | ||
| Coleridge-Taylor Montessori and Johnson Traditional Middle | Every student | ||
| Butler Traditional, Louisville Male, duPont Manual | Only students directly certified for free or reduced-price lunch | ||
| Any other magnet or traditional school | No JCPS bus | Special education students with transportation in their IEP ride at any school. |
Eligible families request a stop through the Transportation Verification form. The deadline for a first-day stop was June 8; a late request isn't guaranteed a bus for the first two weeks.
Source: JCPS 2026-27 eligibility notice (opens in a new tab) (April 13, 2026), checked October 15, 2026.
If there's no bus
Ask first. At Butler, Male and Manual, eligibility turns on direct certification for free or reduced-price lunch. If your family qualifies and has no stop, call (502) 313-4357. A child whose IEP lists transportation is covered at any school.
Then transit. Every magnet high school is on the new TARC network, so a high schooler can ride TARC one way while a carpool covers the other, usually the morning, when timing matters most. Parents of bus riders can track buses in the My Ride K-12 app.
Then a carpool.
Finding families
Start with the team or the club. At Doss, Eastern, Fern Creek, Moore and Southern, the students who lost the city bus home are the ones staying late, and they're all at the same practice. The team's parent list is your carpool list. For a magnet school, ask by end of the county in the school's parent channels: "Okolona, 7 a.m., anyone else south?"
Carpool ideas for a school that draws from the whole county
A magnet school pulls kids from every corner of Jefferson County, so the family next door is probably at a different school. Match on the school first, then on your end of the county.
- Build a late-pickup rotation. Three families, one week each, and nobody drives every night.
- Ask the teen drivers. At Manual, Male and Butler, a junior or senior with a license may be the most practical driver. Check Kentucky's limit (below) before anyone counts seats.
- Plan for the morning you can't cover. A county-wide drive is hard to fill at 7 a.m. If nobody is on tomorrow's drive, Carpool-Q alerts the whole carpool the evening before, while there's still time to trade.
- Plan before you choose. Applying to a magnet or traditional school for next year? Check the table first, and find a family on your side of the county at that school before you commit.
Lay out the rotation on a free printable carpool schedule (no account needed).
Three families from three ZIP codes need one schedule they all trust.
- One shared week on every family's phone, with a driver for each drop-off and pickup.
- Mark a rider "not riding" for a day, or swap a day, and every family sees it.
- If tomorrow has no driver, the whole carpool gets an alert the evening before.
Each family starts with 14 days free. You invite the others by email or a text from the app.
Each family has its own account: 14 days free, then $1.99 a month per family. You invite the other families by email or a text from the app.
Not ready for an app? Get the free printable carpool schedule (no account needed).
Carpool-Q is not affiliated with Jefferson County Public Schools or TARC. Facts on this page come from the JCPS and TARC websites and the news report linked above, for the 2026-27 school year, checked October 15, 2026. Next check: July 2027.