Privatizing bussing could save the Madison school district $300,000 a year

By STACY MILLBERG - Staff Writer - smillberg@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

June 14, 2008 01:36 am

— MADISON — Madison Local School District officials are considering privatizing bussing to save the district a substantial amount of money over the next five years, Superintendent James Herrholtz said Friday.
The “all or nothing” offer proposed to members of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees was an opportunity for the union to match an offer the district received from an outside transportation company. Under the offer with Community Bus Services (CBS) the district stands to save $300,000 per year over the next five years, Herrholtz said.
The Youngstown-based CBS is a private contractor and various school districts in Columbus, Warren, Youngstown and Wickliffe utilize its services, Herrholtz said. The idea behind privatizing transportation is not to oust the district employees. On the contrary, he said, the company guarantees it will employ a good portion of the district’s drivers.
“The drivers will be well trained and receive competitive wages and benefits,” Herrholtz said. “The only difference is they will receive their paychecks from a different company.”
The district has been engaged in the process of determining the most fiscally responsible route to take regarding transportation, he said.
“Even in that process, we never said we wouldn’t sit down with (union members) and bargain with them in good faith,” Herrholtz said. “We had three dates scheduled for next week that have been canceled.”
Herrholtz said the bottom line is the district is looking at the cost savings. The district would contract with CBS for a five-year period and then determine whether to renew the contract after those five-years expire, he said.
“We welcome and want to work with our employees throughout this process,” he said.