Proposal could save Youngstown schools $1M a year

By Harold Gwin

The district is spending about $5.5 million a year to transport its pupils.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown school board’s business committee is examining a pupil transportation proposal that a contractor said could save the district $1 million a year in busing costs.

The proposal comes from Community Bus Services Inc. of Youngstown, which is seeking renewal of the special-needs busing contract it already has with the district.

Youngstown pays CBS about $2.2 million a year to transport about 700 special-needs children from their homes directly to school and back. Special-needs children might be handicapped, medically fragile or have some other need for special transportation consideration.

Youngstown also spends about $3.3 million a year to transport 4,500 pupils on its regular routes.

CBS’ current contract ends June 30, and, in exchange for a new five-year agreement, the company is offering to assist the school district with all of its pupil transportation programs, guaranteeing it can save Youngstown $1 million a year in the process.

The school district wouldn’t get out of the transportation business and would still maintain its buses and staff, and the current employee contracts would be honored, according to the proposal presented to the business committee.

CBS says it can help manage the operation and reduce costs in the areas of fleet insurance, maintenance, fuel, facilities, payroll, training, routing and pupil contact management.

The company is willing to foot the bill for a $250,000 Global Positioning System to install tracking units in district buses to help improve routing and reduce operating costs.

Other factors in the proposal include reducing the size of the fleet, ending a $300,000 annual lease for a bus garage, replacing old buses and using a computerized payroll system to eliminate a lot of paperwork.

This fiscal year, with total busing costs expected to reach $5.5 million, would be used as the base year, with CBS’ guarantee reducing that cost to $4.5 million in each of the next five years.

CBS said it can begin the process as early as April or May. The company also provides busing services in Warren, Columbus and Cleveland.

The district is expecting other special-needs busing proposals before it awards a new contract, said Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent for school business affairs.

Business committee members are Michael Murphy, Lock P. Beachum Sr. and Jacqueline Taylor.

Transportation isn’t the only area the committee is examining in an effort to cut spending as the district seeks to recover from a $15 million budget deficit last year.

Food service is another area of interest, and the committee recently heard a presentation from Sodexho School Services, a food services management company providing assistance to schools and colleges. Sodexho is the food service manager for Youngstown State University.

A company spokesman told the committee that he believes it can help the district reduce its costs to feed its pupils.

Donna Smaldino, the district’s chief of food service, told the committee she doesn’t think the program needs to be fixed. It always shows a profit and is able to help cover some general fund expenses, she said.

William Johnson, district treasurer, said the food service program has about $4 million in annual sales and picks up more than $300,000 a year in general fund costs for trash removal, cafeteria monitor aides and repairs to vehicles used to transport food from central locations, he said.

gwin@vindy.com