Geneva school district justifies its bus practices

Geneva School District 304's business chief on Monday made a case for why the district hires its own bus drivers and transports students in practically brand-new buses.

According to calculations by Donna Oberg, assistant superintendent for business services, District 304 pays less per eligible student, and less per mile, than other local districts - including those that contract out bus service.

Members of a local group, For Accountable Controlled Tax Spending, has criticized Geneva's busing practice. But Monday night, they didn't say anything in response to Oberg's report.

The group has suggested that the district solicit bids to find a private contractor to handle bus service.

FACTS also criticized the district's plan to build a new bus maintenance and storage facility. The district has a bus garage, but it does not have enough room to park all the buses inside. The plan for the new facility, however, has been shelved.

Last fall, the group questioned why the board signed a two-year bus-buyback contract before Oberg's transportation study was done.

Under the buyback contract, the district is guaranteed to receive back about 80 percent of the purchase price when it sells the buses back to the dealer. The district had been doing this annually, but because the economy has made it more difficult to sell used buses, the bus dealer wanted a two-year contract.

Oberg compared Geneva's costs to those of the West Aurora, Batavia, Kaneland, St. Charles, DeKalb and Lake Zurich school districts. Lake Zurich has done a bus buyback for about 20 years. Batavia contracts out to First Student. St. Charles, West Aurora and Kaneland own their buses. DeKalb leases.

Oberg figured that:

• Geneva has a net cost of $201.55 per eligible student bused, the lowest of the districts surveyed. The highest was Batavia, at $377.86.

• The net cost per mile for regular pupil transportation (not including special education or vocational routes) ranged from 96 cents per mile for Kaneland to $3.48 for Batavia. Geneva's was $1.89, Oberg reported.

The report will be posted on the district's Web site, www.geneva304.org.