Rutherford County School Board approves new school bus contract, plans to potentially purchase its own buses to address route gaps

Rutherford County school bus (Photo by Rutherford County Schools)

The Rutherford County School Board approved a new contract for school bus operators and moved forward with a plan that would allow the district to buy its own school buses to deal with possible route gaps.

The new contract approved Thursday includes a 17 percent raise in the first year and 2.5 percent in each of the following three years. It also includes a $4,000 stipend to help drivers pay for their own bus insurance. Rutherford County Schools does not operate its own bus system and instead hires more than 120 contractors to provide students with transportation to and from school.

During Thursday night’s meeting, some board members said they’d heard from contractors who were still pushing for other concessions, including an increase in the fuel reimbursement rate.

 Zone 2 Board Member Stan Vaught said the board has done its best to work with operators and didn’t appreciate the attempt at a last-minute change.

“For the last 90 days I have met with these people four different times, and we have worked through, I thought, 90 percent of the problems,” said Vaught. “This seems like a last-ditch effort to squeeze a few more dollars out of the taxpayers of this county.”

Zone 4 Board Member Katie Darby disagreed, making a motion to amend the contract to include a change in the fuel rate.

“I’m trying to respect the job that these contractors have done for this county and these students for years, and I’m also trying to balance what’s best for the district,” said Darby. “I don’t think any of these things are unreasonable.”

The board ultimately declined to make any additional changes to compensation in the contract.

The increases in the new contract are significantly less than what bus operators initially asked for, and because of that, the district expects some school bus operators will decline to renew their contracts for the next school year. During a work session last Monday, Director of Schools Dr. James Sullivan told board members he worried there won’t be enough drivers to pick up the slack, especially with the district adding 10 new routes next year for a new school.

To address that possibility, the board voted Thursday night to approve a motion that would allow the district to purchase twelve school buses if more than 35 contracted routes for the next school year are still unfilled by the close of business on May 29. Dr. Sullivan told board members this timeframe would ensure the buses were ready to roll in August.

“So, if we have 35 unfulfilled routes, then by that point, that late in the game, still with two months until school starts, we’re going to have the routes to cover these,” said Dr. Sullivan.

Other board members agreed, citing the uncertainty about just how many bus contractors would choose to continue running routes for the district.

“I hope that every contractor picks up the routes. But at this present moment, we don’t know what’s going to happen, but again, I hope that all the contractors sign,” said Vice Chair Frances Rosales.

Zone 6 Board Member Butch Vaughn told fellow board members he thinks the district should move to purchase the buses regardless of whether they’re needed for the routes. He pointed out that the district has only a handful of buses used for activities such as athletics, band, ROTC, and field trips.

“I think we need to buy these buses anyway. The issue is, activity buses at these schools, I don’t think people realize how much they are used,” said Vaughn.

However, not everyone was on board. Zone 1 Board Member Tammy Sharp says the cost of the district running the bus routes itself would simply be too much, saying drivers, bus storage, navigation systems, fuel, and maintenance would be needed.

“Rutherford County started to do their own bus service back in the late 70s, early 80s, and they found out in two years it was not cost effective and they stopped doing it,” said Sharp. “I don’t know why we’re visiting it again, and I’m not going to support this one way or the other.”

The buses would be purchased from two local bus companies and would range from $166,000 to nearly $180,000 each.