SOUTHWICK – The Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District could outsource transportation next year.
Superintendent Jennifer Willard and Director of Finance and Operations Stephen Presnal presented the Fiscal Year 2021 budget proposal Feb. 25 during a public meeting. They said outsourcing busing to the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative would result in savings.
Southwick is one of 11 districts that are members of the Collaborative and send high school students to the Career Technical school at the Collaborative’s West Springfield campus for vocational education. Presnal said the Collaborative provides transportation to most of the member districts.
Outsourcing would mean additional revenue from the sale of the district bus fleet to the Collaborative. Presnal said it would add $150,000 to the Excess and Deficiency line item and would also offset the capital assessment from leasing the transportation building behind Woodland Elementary School, as well as the sale of vehicles.
Willard and Presnal outlined the plan, which will be voted on by the Regional School Committee before going to the Southwick Select Board. In addition to immediate revenue, Willard said future cost avoidances include capital improvements such as $200,000 per year on annual vehicle replacement, $140,000 in FY2023 to pave the transportation facility parking lot, replacing underground storage tank at a cost of $275,000 and retirement assessments ranging from $160,000 to $170,000 over fiscal years 2022-2024.
Presnal said the proposal was well thought-out.
“This is a subject that’s chewed up a lot of time in central office,” Presnal said.
The district worked on creating a plan with the Collaborative, the state, financial advisors and more for the past five months, said Presnal. “There’s not a lot of guidance available,” he said.
Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional is one of four school districts in western Massachusetts that owns its transportation system.
Presnal said benefits of outsourcing are a fixed annual cost, increased focus on education and instruction, streamlining the impact of administrative workflow, cost avoidance for capital improvements and more. He included perceived loss of control, perceived loss of personalized service and impact on employees as “concerns.”
Some members of the audience expressed their concern over losing control of busing students. Presnal said the district would be a stakeholder in the Collaborative and all current transportation employees would still have their jobs and current routes, if they choose.
“There’s no guarantee that will happen in a year,” said one member of the audience.
Willard and Presnal both said either way, there was no guarantee that transportation service would continue the way it is now. Willard noted that two days before the start of the current school year they had to combine routes because they did not have a driver. Presnal said outsourcing would reduce the stress of recruiting and retaining drivers.
Willard said outsourcing would also reduce the time central office administrative staff spends on transportation issues, which she said currently takes up a lot of their time.
“We really want to focus our attention on children in the classroom,” said Willard.
Willard said she and Presnal understand parent concerns.
“We hear that,” Willard said. “We know this is not the answer to everything, but we wanted to put together a fiscally responsible budget that meets the needs of our kids.”
Following the presentation Select Board Chair Russ Fox said he and fellow selectmen Joseph Deedy and Douglas Moglin, who attended the meeting Tuesday, would need to “digest it.”
“We are still waiting to see what the House and Senate will do,” said Fox. “We have the governor’s budget. We will keep an open mind.”
Southwick Finance Committee Chair Robert Horacek did not have extensive comments after the meeting, saying onlyn “I like local control.”
The school department will meet with the Select Board in March to discuss the budget and transportation needs.
