Private School Bus Transportation Proves Costly

COLUMBUS, OH — Today the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE), an affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, released a study concluding that turning over school bus transportation to private companies can result in increased operating costs for local school districts.

The report, Taking Them for a Ride: An Assessment of the Privatization of School Transportation in Ohio's Public School Districts, tracks recent changes in costs and services among school districts in the state. The study examines 611 school districts in Ohio over a five-year period between 1994 and 1998. The central findings of the study show that:

Districts that contracted out their pupil transportation paid significantly more than school districts that kept their programs in-house.
Local taxpayers in school districts that rely exclusively on contractors bear a higher percentage of their transportation operating costs than districts that provide services in-house, because they receive a lower percentage of their overall costs back from the state in reimbursements.
While the use of private contractors grew over the five-year period, the vast majority of Ohio districts continued to provide in-house transportation. Less than 5 percent of pupils were transported by contractors and less than 3 percent of the districts relied primarily on contractors in the final year of the analysis.

"Our union members have always been committed to safe and efficient school bus transportation in Ohio," said Joe Rugola, Executive Director of OAPSE. "This study simply confirms that privatizing student transportation costs far more than maintaining the service in-house."

The study was conducted by Mark Cassell an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Kent State University, in order to assess the most economical way of transporting students to school. "Whether measured as cost per pupil or cost per mile, Ohio school districts that rely primarily on contractors to transport pupils are spending a lot more on transportation than districts that run operations in-house," said Cassell.

Full text of Taking Them for a Ride: An Assessment of the Privatization of School Transportation in Ohio's Public School Districts

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American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO
1625 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036-5687
Telephone (202) 429-1145
Fax (202) 429-1120

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