THE LONGEST RIDE: A SC school district & the SC Department of Education paid $2.5M to settle two lawsuits after non-verbal children were attacked more than 100 times on a bus in 2018. There was no other adult on the bus, aside from the driver.

Rep. Richie Yow drew up a bill that would've forced SC school districts to put an adult aide on every special needs bus with restrained children. The SCDOE killed Yow's bill in Feb.

The SCDOE put up a regulation suggesting districts use an adult aide on special needs buses "if" an aide is available. On June 13, the state Board of Education voted to pass first reading of that regulation.

The reason the SCDOE won't mandate aides: if an aide calls in sick, children will be stranded at schools or would never get to school in the first place.