District News
School District reviewing transportation options
Seattle Public Schools transportation staff is reviewing options for revising the District’s transportation system for the 2012-13 school year, and parents will have an opportunity to comment prior to the School Board vote May 16.
At the beginning of this school year, Seattle Public Schools implemented a new three-tiered transportation system that was aimed at cutting costs and providing our students with a shorter bus ride. We projected that this new system would save up to $4 million (and budgeted for a $3 million savings), but instead transportation staff informed the Board in February that it saved only $2 million.
In addition, our transportation costs rose this year due to several factors, including increased enrollment and a greater demand for special services, such as services for homeless students and special education preschoolers.
Three savings options outlined
In an effort to keep budget cuts away from the classroom, the School Board in March directed District staff to identify transportation cost savings for 2012-13 and beyond.
SPS Logistics Director Bob Westgard made a presentation to the School Board at its regular meeting Wednesday, May 2, that outlined three options for 2012-13 bus arrival and departure times for elementary and secondary schools. He also shared a survey of transportation services provided by other area school districts.
On Wednesday night, after hearing some preliminary cost-saving ideas, the Board directed staff to look into options for moving start times for our secondary schools to a minimum of 10 minutes later.
The District is working on that analysis, including a look at how those changes would affect elementary start times. These findings will be presented to the School Board prior to the May 16 meeting. This information will also be published on our website so that families will be able to see what the Board will be considering.
Families urged to provide feedback
The transportation team recognizes the need for community engagement, but the time frame is short because the Superintendent will finalize bell times for all schools by the end of May. As a result, we urge families to provide their feedback via email at transdept@seattleschools.org.
For the short term, we are analyzing options aimed at both saving money and making our bus routes more reliable for our families.
The current proposal would:
• Standardize our bell times from 21 different times to approximately six.
• Make our ride times longer (from 25 minutes to up to 45 minutes) so that we can use fewer buses. Each bus on the road costs the District $46,000 a year, and our goal is to remove 21 buses from the road.
• Ensure buses are full, therefore more efficient.
Task force to provide recommendations
For the long term, we have established a transportation task force that includes community members, staff from surrounding school districts, Seattle School District staff and special education. This group will help us determine a strategy for addressing transportation costs and efficiency measures for the 2013-14 school year and beyond. The group’s first meeting will be May 16 with the goal of providing recommendations to the School Board by fall 2012.
Transportation costs are only partially covered by the state and we pay more than $14 million from levy funds to cover transportation each year. We are in the midst of challenging financial times and have to look at all options.