HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Big changes may be coming to Huntsville City Schools’ transportation of students, changes that a system consultant says could save the cash-strapped system about $1.6 million.
Former state superintendent Dr. Ed Richardson recommended that school board members slash the number of buses and bus monitors in its transportation contract in ongoing efforts to cut the system’s operating expenses. The board on Thursday approved a new contract with Durham Schools Services, which has provided transportation to Huntsville’s students since 2008.
Parts of the contract may change, however, if the board takes Richardson’s advice, laid out in a proposal to the board.
“There is a tremendous amount of savings in this proposal,” Richardson told the board Thursday. “And it’s done without the loss of (system) employees.”
Richardson, who has led a study of the system’s transportation, explained that Durham’s contract charges the system per bus, not per route. The contract approved Thursday includes fees of $269 per bus each day. With 129 buses taking students to school for 180 days, the base cost of transportation equals $6.2 million for the 2011-2012 school year.
However, the system could save nearly $50,000 for each eliminated bus. Richardson suggests having buses handle more than one route.
“If you do one route with a bus, it costs you $50,000,” he said. “If you do two routes (with that bus), it costs you $50,000.”
He said staggering the pick-up times for some schools by about 15 minutes would allow more buses to double routes. If the system could reduce the fleet by 12 to 15 buses, it would save more than $600,000 a year.
The consultant said another problem is that Huntsville, through Durham’s contract, uses more aides as bus monitors than any other system in the state. Monitors accompany bus drivers on their routes to help maintain order on the buses.
Richardson said he examined the number of complaints of trouble on the buses and that, overall, the system does not have a large discipline problem. For the 2010-2011 school year, there were 4,928 conduct reports for unacceptable student behavior. Several of the buses with monitors had few, if any, incidents.
He recommended cutting 44 of the monitors supplied by Durham. At just under $10,000 per aide, the system would save more than $400,000.
He said the system should also adopt a more precise discipline policy.
Board member David Blair agreed and pointed to the conduct reports, which showed 238 infractions on one bus.
“If you have 238 disciplinary issues on one bus, you need to get those kids off the bus,” Blair said to applause from the crowd.
Another money-saver is as simple as ensuring that all bus routes are properly coded in the system’s reports to the state. Richardson said improper coding last year cost the system $400,000 in state dollars for the 2011 fiscal year.
Richardson was hired in February to help the system dig out of a $19.5 million debt at the end of the last fiscal year. Since then, he has helped the board make more than $23 million in cuts.
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