Nearly 600 students and counting rode to class last week in special needs buses that are once again being operated by the Clovis Unified School District in Fresno, Calif.
In all, 567 students with disabilities were being transported, 52 of whom joined the program after school started on Aug. 22.
Charlie Ott, the district’s transportation director, said the 2011-2012 school year is the first to see the district own and operate its own special needs fleet in “about 30 years,” when the district only had a handful of students with disabilities to transport. But as the numbers of eligible students began to grow under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act, Clovis outsourced the service.
Ott said Clovis is expected to save $250,000 this year on expenditures, despite spending $9 million last year to purchase the 50 lift-equipped school buses and four spares as well as to construct a new bus yard and new driver’s building on district-owned property. The district also recently placed an order for two additional buses to accommodate the increased number of riders.
But, Ott added, what works for Clovis doesn’t necessarily make sense for other districts that. For example, he said some school districts don’t already own the necessary land for new bus yards or buildings, don’t have the resources to make the necessary new purchases or don’t have a similar driver pool to draw from.
“With changing times, you have to look at what this costing us and what can we do it for,” he added. “People think we’re [just] spending money, but if you can operate it for less, then it makes more sense to bring it back in house.”
The district also hired and trained 60 new drivers over the summer. But, Ott confirmed, the district stands to save at least $3.6 million in 18 years, or essentially the lifecycle of the newly purchased buses. and the savings could rise depending on the life-span of the buses.
Clovis also transports 6,000 regular education students on another 50 routes and, along with the new special needs buses, has 143 yellow vehicles in the fleet.
