It would cost around $3 million to buy the buses, Jones said, and the district would need to retrofit them with backup cameras and air conditioning, as other buses in DPS’s fleet have. In total, that would cost around $4 million, Jones said.
The district saved around $2.6 million by not sending security resource officers, or school security, to the downtown Dayton RTA bus hub as they had in previous years since the district is no longer buying bus passes for students, said board member Karen Wick.
A provision in the most recent state budget blocks students from transferring through the downtown Dayton RTA bus hub using bus passes purchased by their school. Dayton Public was previously purchased RTA bus passes for high school students.
This week, the Dayton Public Schools Board of Education filed a lawsuit against the state of Ohio trying to stop the state’s enforcement of the new provision.
“While DPS is not required to transport high school students to and from school, the practical reality is that if DPS does not provide transportation to its students, many of them will not have a safe means of transportation to and from school,” the lawsuit said.
Hiring bus drivers a problem
Board members said the biggest sticking point in purchasing new buses would be hiring more drivers.
Jones estimated the district will need to hire 74 new drivers, which would cost about another $3 million without factoring in benefits. The district is still hiring bus drivers for this school year even without the additional bus purchases.
Chrisondra Goodwine, the DPS board president, said the district has other competing interests, like a new roof for one of their schools, some of the elementary schools on the West side of the city bursting at the seams with enrollment, and more spaces for middle school students.
“What’s happening with high school transportation is an immediate need,” Goodwine said. “And we are actively trying to figure out a way to make the best situation possible out of what we believe we can do, and the advice we get from our attorneys. It does not take you away from the other needs of the district right now, because the roof is important.”
Board member Will Smith suggested the district should be considering other ways to get kids to school.
He said purchasing the buses would likely not solve the problem because of the state mandate that DPS offer busing to charter and parochial school students residing in the city and not just DPS students.
“There’s a way for us to transport our children right now,” Smith said. “We just have to understand that it can be done and go do it.”
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