School officials to discuss transportation

By Harold Gwin

School board members want to show they are looking for ways to save money.

YOUNGSTOWN — City school district representatives will begin meeting with Community Bus Services Inc. at 5 p.m. Sept. 16 to discuss how a transportation management services contract might save the district money.

The school board awarded CBS a $1.6 million contract in July to provide transportation for a minimum of 450 special-needs pupils this school year but also indicated it wants to talk with the company about providing management services for the entire $5.5 million transportation program.

Terry Thomas, CBS president, had offered a five-year management services contract to the board as part of a five-year bid on the special-needs busing, guaranteeing an annual savings of $1 million to the district, but the school board decided to award only a three-year contract for that service. CBS was the sole bidder.

Thomas said he would still be willing to talk with the district about some form of overall management services contract that could save the district money, and the district has created an administrative committee to begin those talks next week.

“We want to save money anywhere we can,” said Michael Murphy, chairman of the business committee that has been leading the talks with CBS, at a business committee meeting Monday.

It’s especially important to get that message out in light of the 9.5-mill, four-year tax levy voters will be asked to approve in November, he said.

Committee member Lock P. Beachum Sr. said the committee needs to make a bigger effort to inform the public about spending cuts the school board has already made. That list includes some $26 million and 450 jobs.

Thomas has told school officials any significant transportation savings would come through bus route changes.

He said his company wouldn’t take over district transportation but would make recommendations on how costs can be reduced. The current union contracts would be honored and there would be no reduction in services, Thomas said.

His company first would have to purchase a $250,000 global positioning system to track bus routes, he said.

Just what CBS would be paid for its services would be determined in negotiations with the school administrative committee, Thomas said.

Meanwhile, Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent for school business affairs, told the business committee the district has been able to cut 11 routes from its bus runs since the 64 routes covered in the 2006-07 school year. The number is now 53 and that amounts to a savings of $30,000 per route, DeNiro said.

The number of buses in the fleet has been reduced from 90 to 74 over that same period, resulting in bus insurance costs dropping from $150,400 to $138,377 per year, he said.

Youngstown provides transportation for pupils to 15 city schools but is required by state law to also provide rides for children attending 20 other public, private and charter schools.

There are 7,000 children assigned to city school buses this year, DeNiro said.

gwin@vindy.com