Over the summer Charles “Josh” Davis, accepted the director of transportation position at Henrico County Public Schools serving the Richmond, Va., area after being the chief financial officer at Albermarle County for nearly five years.
That caught our attention here at School Transportation News, especially as districts nationwide continue to struggle with shrinking budgets. Having a leader in transportation with financial expertise is a very good thing. But Davis also has a background in transportation and logistics with the U.S. Army, and before accepting the CFO position at Albermarle was the director of transportation there, as well.
We caught up with Davis as he settled into his new position to learn how he is applying his financial expertise to transportation and the biggest challenges he sees for the industry as well as in his district.
STN: When did you first start in school busing and how?
Josh Davis: I served as a civilian employee for the Army for over 26 years, primarily in the fields of transportation engineering and logistics. My position at Fort Belvoir, Va., was slated to move to Alabama under Base Realignment legislation, so I accepted an early retirement incentive in January 2009. I could have worked one more year at Fort Belvoir, but applied to become director of transportation for Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS) in Charlottesville, Va. I was highly interested in trying another type of transportation career, and had always been interested in returning to Charlottesville, where I had attended graduate school at the University of Virginia. I was delighted to be appointed as transportation director for ACPS, and my first day of work was the same day that President Obama was inaugurated in January 2009.
STN: How did you first get into the financial side of things? Is this your educational background?
Davis: I have degrees in civil engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and University of Virginia, and I focused on transportation systems in my course work. I took graduate courses at MIT that focused on the business side of transportation, and later in my Army career through a Department of Defense leadership program that included accounting and economics. I served as Chief Operating Officer for my final two years of service with ACPS, leading multiple departments including Fiscal Services.
STN: From your perspective, what are the biggest current funding challenges for Henrico? What about student transportation as a whole?
Davis: Henrico faces the same common funding issues as many other school divisions. Revenues have remained relatively flat as the economy has crawled out of the recession. State revenues have begun to increase, but local revenues have continued to slide, and we are awaiting the results of a meals tax referendum this November that would directly support county schools if passed. These conditions have stymied our ability to grant raises to employees, which keeps bus driver wages lower than I would prefer. The county is growing, and it is very difficult to pay the costs associated with growth and also grant raises. The county has made a three-year capital investment in modernizing our bus fleet, and we need to extend that plan and invest in new buses every year.
STN: What transportation issues are you tackling first?
Davis: Pupil transportation success relies on quality employees dedicated to the mission. Henrico County’s on-time performance has improved in recent years, but more improvement is possible and needed. We can only improve if we fill our budgeted positions with qualified drivers and aides. We have a complex set of academic programs dispersed through an oddly shaped county, and we offer transportation from one end of the county to the other if students wish to attend a specific program. We changed our bell schedule last year to slightly decrease our need for buses and drivers. Our on-time performance was poor early last school year, and we are eager to see how well we meet our performance targets with improved staffing of our driver positions.
STN: Thank you!
