Westlake School Committee reviews transportation staffing, vacancies and out-of-district costs

The Westlake School Committee examined the district's transportation staffing and out-of-district transportation costs during a budget review, focusing on vacancies and state requirements for bus monitors.

The committee heard that the district is budgeting 57 full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions in transportation for fiscal year 2025–26, and that as of Jan. 17 there were 15 vacant positions, including “7 bus monitors, 3 drivers, 1 vacant special ed bus aide, 2 vacant special ed drivers, a vacant technician, [and] a vacant van driver,” a district staff member said. The staff member added, “if these 15 positions are vacant and vacant for the entire year, the budget savings for that would be almost $560,000.”

Why it matters: board members said the unfilled positions are driving the district to buy outside transportation services for some placed students and for other runs, increasing costs and delaying placements. Committee members repeatedly asked whether those vacancies force the district to use statewide contracted services or individual ride services for special-education and McKinney-Vento (homeless-student) placements.

The district described how vacancies and federal/state rules interact. Christina, identified in the meeting as the district ESSA coordinator, explained that when students in foster care or experiencing homelessness must remain in their school of origin, the district must provide or share transportation under the McKinney-Vento Act. She said those arrangements can require travel from Providence or Warwick back to Westerly; when the district lacks drivers or appropriate runs, it contracts third-party ride services and pays the higher cost. “Two of those vacancies were special education drivers,” she said, adding that when those positions are filled those runs would likely be handled in-house rather than by an outside provider.

The district also described the RIDE (Rhode Island Department of Education) statewide service for some special-education and general-education out-of-district runs. A district staff member said statewide routes can take longer to set up and can delay when a student can begin a new placement; in some cases the district uses vendor or taxi-style services to start transport sooner.

Board members pressed on the legal requirement to have monitors. “By law, we do. We need the monitors,” a district staff member said, and added that the district applies for waivers to RIDE when no monitors are available; those waivers have repeatedly been granted. The district said it budgets for monitor positions even when waivers are likely.

Discussion, not decision: the committee discussed options including reissuing a request for proposals (RFP) for district transportation services, comparing in-house versus vendor costs, and possible collective-bargaining implications if services are outsourced. No formal motion to change how transportation is provided was taken during the discussion.

Other budget detail: the committee received a personnel schedule showing current vacancies and a separate report on vehicle counts and FTE allocations. The district said it budgets for 16 full-size bus drivers, three spare drivers and six special-education drivers; the full-size fleet was listed at 22 vehicles with five spares, plus 13 minibuses and minivans.

The discussion concluded with requests from committee members for more detail: a breakdown of out-of-district transportation counts and costs, a comparison of vendor vs. in-house costs (an RFP cost-comparison), and historical uptime/repair data for vehicles. Staff agreed to pull kilowatt-hour and uptime logs for electric buses and to provide additional cost detail in a follow-up report.

Ending: committee members scheduled further budget sessions to continue the transportation review and asked staff to return with the requested data.