Gurnee school districts will merge bus service

Two Gurnee-based school districts will combine their bus operations with an expectation of saving at least a combined $200,000 in the next academic year.

Gurnee Elementary District 56 and Warren Township High School District 121 recently hatched the deal.

Officials said young grade-school children will ride separately from the Warren teenagers.

Under the new system, Districts 121 and 56 will share buses and drivers. Transportation directors from both districts already have been working on routes for the 2010-11 school year.

"You know, at a time when money's very tight, this gives us an opportunity to save programs and save teaching jobs," District 56 Superintendent John Hutton said this week.

District 56's and 121's business managers have worked on the busing agreement's financial nuts and bolts. Conservative projections show both districts together saving $200,000 annually over each of the next five years.

Buses that have been sitting idle in the parking lot of Warren's Almond Road upperclassmen campus will be used to transport the District 56 elementary students. Hutton said that means District 56 will lease fewer buses for the 2010-11 school year.

Fewer bus drivers may be required under the initiative, officials said.

Warren's O'Plaine Road freshmen-sophomore campus and District 56 have overlapping bus routes on Gurnee's east side and other areas.

While Warren and District 56 are combining busing resources for busing, some schools have found other ways to reduce student transportation expenses.

Libertyville Elementary District 70 board members recently agreed to allow bus schedules to be altered, which is projected to save $105,000 over the next three years.

In some parts of the United States, student transportation is being viewed as a possible revenue source.

Lawmakers in Washington state, Ohio, Utah and New Jersey have been considering whether to alow advertising on school buses. A smattering of states already permit school bus ads, including Florida, Colorado, Arizona, Tennessee and Minnesota.