By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — School transportation costs in the next fiscal year are expected to be fractionally less than budgeted for this year.

But achieving the sizable cost-cutting dent some Board of Education members were hoping for remains elusive.

The 2024-25 budget proposed by Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice includes roughly $7.7 million for transportation, compared to nearly $7.8 million budgeted for 2023-24. Actual cost to the school district in this fiscal year is projected at nearly $7.5 million.

Scarice has requested an overall $148.3 million budget for the next fiscal year, nearly 9 percent higher than current spending.

Despite a change in school bus providers and an eventual shift to an alternative-fuel fleet, the board was told last week real savings aren’t possible given existing school start times and a board policy guaranteeing all students a seat on a bus regardless of whether they use it. School officials last year awarded the new bus provider, First Student, a $35.3 million, five-year contract.

Half of the district’s 5,176 students do not ride the buses, the board was told.

“I think we are moving a little too slow,” board member Robert Harrington told the board as members discussed the impact of transportation costs on the overall budget — 5.2 percent.

Fourteen months have passed since consultants told the board that school start times might have to be revisited before the district could trim transportation costs.

“I am still not convinced what the … process is to actually start evaluating some of these [recommendations],” Harrington said.

Saying he supports letting families opt out of district-provided transportation to school, Harrington said he would like to see a pilot program started, in spite of all the other district projects underway, even if it means hiring another consultant.

“Until we evaluate, we are just not going to know,” Harrington said.

Scarice said he would welcome more resources from the board to tackle such an initiative.

What’s driving school bus costs?

As it stands, cost of the district’s contract with First Student will rise 3.38 percent in each of the next four years. That compares to the 4.76 percent increase DATTCO, the district’s former school bus provider, would have charged, the school board was told.

The projected $7.7 million transportation pricetag in the next fiscal year compares to $5 million in fiscal year 2019, said Elio Longo, the district’s chief financial officer.

This year, fewer out-of-district special education placements and lower fuel costs contributed to spending $300,000 less than what was projected.

The district uses 56 buses, including 39 full-size buses on elementary, middle and high school routes and 17 vans. Two large buses and two vans service two private schools in town.

The two full-size buses the district was able to cut this year due to route efficiencies were replaced by two additional small buses to accommodate an increase in special education students.

Just over $1 million of the transportation budget next year is earmarked for transporting special education students to out-of-district placements. That cost has grown 16.7 percent in the past five years.

Longo called the increase alarming.

Are there different routes to help curb expenses?

Scarice said he would not recommend further reductions in the transportation budget until the district has a chance to thoroughly vet potential changes in school start times or the board’s policy that provides all students a ride to school.

Each bus runs up to three times in the morning and three times in the afternoon between Staples, the two middle schools and five elementary schools. A 30-minute buffer is built between tiers.

Were the board to consider something as ambitious as an opt-out from the busing program, Scarice said it should look at start times as part of the equation.

Why, asked board Chair Lee Goldstien.

“Because consolidating buses would entail looking at going across tiers,” Scarice said.

A route cut at the elementary school level would not eliminate a bus unless the cut could also be made at the middle and high school levels.

“If elementary needs 56 buses, we need 56 buses,” Goldstein said.

The district is charged by the day not the route and it is at the high school where buses tend to have low ridership.

Scarice also recommended any changes take place on a trial basis before being built into the budget as a cost savings.

In addition to big changes, board Vice Chair Dorie Hordon suggested the district consider creating more cluster stops so that buses don’t provide door-to-door pickups.

To do that and ensure safety, the town might have to build more sidewalks, the board was told.

On the plus side, Scarice called the performance of First Student, after the first couple of months, as incredible.

The district is four buses away from a new fleet. Once complete, GPS devices will be installed to help parents and district officials track the whereabouts of buses.

As performance of bus runs improves, elementary school ridership has picked up, the board was told.

First Student also is said to have enough drivers to fully staff its buses. Last year, there were shortages. Many drivers, however, come from outside the area.

First Student is also still looking for a place to park its fleet of buses, as required under the contract awarded last year.

At the school board meeting Thursday, the panel unanimously agreed to a lease allowing 31 school buses to continue parking at the Greens Farms Railroad Station.

By doing so, First Student will pay the district $288,000, of which $99,000 will go to the Westport Police Department, which manages parking at town’s railroad stations.

The deal, approved days earlier by the Board of Selectwomen, will provide 31 spots for buses and 40 parking permits for First Student drivers. It also provides for automatic renewals until First Student finds permanent parking.

Other buses are parked at both Coleytown schools, Long Lots Elementary School and Bedford Middle School under a permit granted by the Planning and Zoning Commission last year.

The board sought assurances that First Student is still looking for a permanent space, ideally one centralized spot with an office.

Harris Falk, a former Representative Town Meeting member, said it would be wise if the permanent lot includes the ability for the fleet to charge up should there be a switch to electric-powered vehicles.

Freelance writer Linda Conner Lambeck, a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications, is a member of the Education Writers Association.