District 39 bus decision moves closer

• Reprints

Updated: February 27, 2012 8:49AM

No matter how School District 39 board members decide to handle student transportation in future, current bus-driving employees will have employment choices, and the district will be able to set enforceable safety and quality guidelines for any potential contractor.

District business manager Crystal LeRoy made those assurances Monday while reviewing factors the board must consider before deciding whether or not to stop operating its own bus fleet and seek a private contractor to take over the job of getting students to and from school.

The district will seek bids in the first week of February. Offers from bus companies are due back Feb. 23 and will be presented to the board. If members like what they see in terms of cost savings and service, they could make a final decision at the board’s March meeting.

District officials announced last year that they were considering the option, suggested as a possible cost-saving measure during the lead up to the successful April, 2011, tax hike referendum.

The district is one of only two elementary school districts in New Trier Township to operate its own fleet.

Drivers concerned

At a Dec. 12 public hearing, district bus-drivers and their union representatives, as well as some district parents, worried that the district risked giving up quality and safety control over drivers and buses by hiring an outside company.

LeRoy acknowledged the public hearing concerns, but said “any company (hired by the district) would have an obligation to employ any and all of our qualified personnel.” District custodians are all offered the chance to become certified drivers, she said; “given the opportunity, every employee will be offered the chance to remain with the district, or be absorbed by (the contractual company.)”

She also emphasized the control District 39 would have over the bidding process. All companies interested in getting a district bus contract will have to attend a mandatory Feb. 8 pre-bid meeting to learn what the district expects them to provide.

“We write the expectations,” LeRoy said. “If a bus company wins our bid and does not provide the services we require, we have the ability to terminate the contract.”

She reminded listeners that District 39 currently operates its bus fleet at a loss.

The roughly $580,000 in revenue it gets from bus fees and state tax money does not cover expenses, projected to be almost $838,000 in 2012-13. Salaries comprise more than $491,000 in costs, as do about $94,000 in benefits, $140,000 in capital outlay, since the district tries to replace two buses every year.

“In order to make transportation services break even, we’d have to raise our round trip fee to $700 from the current $495,” she said, something the board has decided against doing.

LeRoy and District Superintendent Raymond Lechner told Board Member Cindy Levine that administrators would have to wait until bids come in to see if potential outsourcing savings would be great enough to pass some on to fee-paying families.

When Board Member Alice Schaff asked if the district could save money by leasing buses rather than owning them, LeRoy said it was possible, “but there are initial costs, so it could take a while before we saw benefits. But it is worth looking into.”