Cape Girardeau school officials and consultants are working on a plan to reduce student transportation costs, increase efficiency and lessen the impact of budget cuts on school bus routes.

Staggered school starting times for different buildings, as much as 15 to 25 minutes, is a possibility.

The Board of Education heard a progress report from George Baker, a computer consultant helping the district automate transportation records, and George Hawthorn with Ryder Student Transportation, the district's bus provider.

In March, as part of a $1.2 million budget reallocation package, the school board approved changing school bus ridership eligibility to 1.5 miles for elementary students and 2 miles for secondary students.

The district plans to eliminate the cost of three buses from the transportation budget.

District personnel have said they hope not to change the elementary boundaries after all, if enough money can be saved in other ways.

Baker has just completed loading student records and current bus routes in a new computer program for the district.

He and Hawthorn began work Monday to increase ridership and reduce costs.

Baker said after the preliminary work, about the same savings can be made at the secondary level by increasing ridership boundaries to 1.5 miles, instead of 2 miles.

But he said similar savings are needed at the elementary level to achieve a cost savings. All the buses run two routes, one secondary and one elementary.

"We know we can increase ridership enough to reduce one bus," Baker said.

"What we need is time," Baker said. "If we had some variance in starting times, we might be able to recombine and restructure routes to make this happen."

Board member John Campbell said, "I would be willing to listen to any reasonable recommendation regarding changes in start times."

"Everybody is working together to see if we can cut costs and at the same time save money," said Superintendent Neyland Clark. "If we can raise efficiency that is a savings to the district and then the district will receive additional revenue from the state."

The state reimburses school districts a portion of transportation costs, based on an efficiency factor.

But Hawthorn added that the state formula for distributing money for student transportation is in the process of being revised. But information about the new formula is sketchy.

"You all have to make the decisions," Baker told the board. "All I can do is give you the facts you need then show you what will happen."