District 15 Looks at Changing Bus Plan

District 15 school officials will decide whether or not they want to alter the district’s bus transportation program as a means to cut costs.

Superintendent Scott Thompson presented the school board at its May 9 meeting with a preliminary version of a transportation consultant’s report that was commissioned last fall.

The report outlines two ways the district could cut costs on its transportation services: either by privatizing the district’s transportation operations or replacing its current two-tier route system with a three-tier route system.

According to the report, the district spends nearly 70 percent of its transportation budget on wages and benefits. The savings to the district would come from the private firm paying between 30 to 40 percent. Bus drivers would not likely be eligible for health insurance, pension or personal days of vacation.

The other cost-savings option would be to switch from a two-tier route system to a three-tier.

The first tier picks up a load of students attending a single school within the designated attendance boundary. After dropping off the load of students, the bus repeats the service for another school, and completes its second tier.

D15’s two-tier system uses 143 route buses daily and would only need 115 buses if it were to switch to a three-tier, according to the report.

The savings would come from a reduction in the amount of buses and drivers needed to operate a three-tier system, though the district would need to alter the start times of the schools. Fewer buses and drivers would yield a reduction in wages, insurance and maintenance costs.

“We will be examining these possibilities as we move forward as ways to save money and we’ll come back to you with progress of that work,” Thompson said.