SALEM, Ore. Swamped by complaints from school administrators and athletic directors throughout the state, the Oregon Board of Education has agreed to temporarily lift a ban on the use of motorcoaches to transport students to school-related activities.

Individual schools, however, will have to apply to the Oregon Department of Education for a variance before being allowed to use a motorcoach rather than a yellow school bus.

"The applications will be on a fast-track basis and there will be a very quick turnaround for schools asking for the variance," said Gene Evans, a spokesman for the education department.

He said the lifting of the ban will remain in effect for six months during which time a special advisory group made up of representatives of school districts and private motorcoach companies will attempt to find a permanent solution.

About 40 school districts in the state use motorcoaches for some of their transportation needs and at least three of them use coaches extensively.

The issue that led to the brief but controversial ban, surfaced last month when the Education Department received a request from a school district seeking permission to license a charter bus so it could be used to transport students to school activities.

Rather than routinely issuing the permit, the department instead ran the request through attorneys at the state Department of Justice who reviewed existing regulations and determined motorcoaches do not meet current state safety standards required for school use.

Among added safety features that school buses have, they said, were stronger roofs that are less likely to crush in a rollover accident, smaller windows, safety exits and nonflammable seats.

Based on the information from the state lawyers, the Education Department denied the school's request to use the motorcoach for its students.

"When we received the notice that motorcoaches did not meet the standards, we had to notify all of the school districts that if they used a charter bus to transport school children they would not be in compliance with state rules and regulations," Evans explained.

His telephone and those of other state education department officials began ringing immediately after letters went out informing school districts of the decision. "I think every athletic director in the state called me," he said.

Other complaints came from charter bus operators who warned the ban could ruin them financially, from parents who worried that their children might end up taking long school trips in private cars, and from students who said they wanted to continue riding in charter buses because they are much more comfortable than school buses.

The education department took the issue to the state board on an emergency basis, suggesting the temporary lifting of the ban and the creation of the advisory committee to work on a permanent solution.

"I think the solution will be to allow the schools to use motorcoaches," said Evans, adding that the school board indicated it did not want the department coming back six months from now asking for another temporary fix.

"It's not that charter buses are not safe, it's just that they did not meet the current safety standards of student transportation," he said.

It is possible that unions representing school bus drivers, seeing an opening, will oppose a solution that allows school districts to use motorcoaches.

Under the measure adopted by the board, the request for the variance to use a motorcoach for transporting students must include such information documentation that the carrier has received a satisfactory safety rating from the U.S. Department of Transportation, assurance that the driver has passed a criminal background check, and a copy of the carriers certificate of insurance.

It also allows the superintendent of public education to place safety-related and other conditions on the school or school district seeking the variance and place a time limit on the variance.

Under state law, school districts that use motorcoaches that do not meet the current safety standards would be out of compliance with state statutes and administrative rules and would be required to submit a plan of correction to the education department within a year. If the district continues to remain out of compliance, the department could withhold state school funds from the district.