The Cape Girardeau School District is investigating the feasibility of operating its own bus system, a potential cost savings after steep cuts in state transportation funding.

The district is in the final year of its contract with transportation services provider First Student Inc., so the time was right to research options, said Neil Glass, the district's director of administrative services.

"It's been on our radar for quite some time," he said. "I plan on doing that study by the end of this year or early next year."

Glass said he'll research the pros and cons of purchasing a fleet or leasing, the price tag for infrastructure, including storage, and the expense of personnel. He plans to deliver his recommendations to the Cape Girardeau School Board by March, when contracts go out for bus service.

The district's transportation budget this year is about $1.2 million, including all contracted miles under daily routes and nonroute miles for field trips, student activities and other school-related events. Contracts generally have increased about 3 percent annually, Glass said, with the exception of this school year, when the district signed a one-year extension with no increase.

The bus manufacturing market has been hit hard by the downturn, Glass said, and vendors are "hungry." It's an environment that could provide attractive financing on new buses and leased fleets, and that could make a district-owned operation affordable, Glass said.

"That's the drive behind my research," he said. "But I need to know what's the cost, the liabilities."

Cape Girardeau schools need look no further than Jackson. With 285 square miles to cover, one of the largest geographical districts in the state, the Jackson School District's buses log more than 600,000 miles a year, according to superintendent Ron Anderson. The district runs 55 routes with a fleet of 71 buses, and the budget, not including personnel, is about $600,000 a year, according to Carol Woods, transportation director for the Jackson School District.

"Although I haven't seen a study, I believe it's cheaper if you run your own, if you do it efficiently," Anderson said. "You're sort of able to control your destiny."

Studies vary on the cost benefits and drawbacks of contracting and public ownership. While private contracts are on the rise, especially in difficult economic times, public entities still dominate school bus service. Of Missouri's 545 school districts and charter schools, 377 operate transportation systems while 168 contract, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Cape Girardeau's transportation needs are different from Jackson's, particularly because of the contrast in size. But Glass said there are lessons to be drawn from Jackson's experiences.

Glass said First Student has provided good service over the five years of its contract with the district.

"Having contracted service is nice in that it alleviates some of the headaches you have owning your own buses. ... The employees are not district employees, so you have to work through a third party to negotiate the contract. There's a give and take there," he said.

The Cape Girardeau and Jackson school districts, like districts across the state, have been forced to become considerably more efficient. This past summer, after district budgets were finalized, the state cut its share of transportation support by 50 percent. The cuts cost the Cape Girardeau School District about $86,000, Glass said. Anderson could not provide figures for Jackson, but he said it was significant.

"You still have to provide transportation, you just have fewer dollars for something else," Anderson said.

Districts in other parts of the country have cut bus service in the face of shrinking transportation resources. Huntsville, Ala., schools, for instance, last year discussed cutting special-needs bus routes to reduce costs.

Things don't look to be improving in Missouri anytime soon.

"For the next few years the budget is the issue," Anderson said. "Everybody is facing that dilemma."

mkittle@semissourian.com

388-3726

Pertinent address:

1000 S. Silver Springs Road, Cape Girardeau, MO