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JFAC OKs $600,000 one‑time pilot for student bus route software; districts to report savings
Summary
The committee approved a $600,000 one‑time allocation for a student transportation routing software pilot that will fund routing for about 400 buses at $1,500 per bus; participating districts and charters must report savings and other data to the Department of Education for legislative review.
The Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee approved a one‑time $600,000 allocation for a student transportation routing software pilot, directing participating school districts and charters to report cost and savings data to the Department of Education.
Jared Tetro, Budget and Policy Analysis Division, Legislative Services Office, described the Central Services division request and said the committee's earlier larger request for routing software had been reduced after related measures were defeated on the House floor. "The original request was for $5,000,000," Tetro said; "the dollar amount in the bill yesterday was $2,200,000" and the pilot now in the committee is $600,000.
Senator Woodward moved the FY‑2026 one‑time allocation and Representative Petzke seconded. Committee discussion covered survey interest and expected scale: Tetro said the Department's survey received responses from about 70 districts and charters and that most indicated interest; one committee member later cited 43 districts that had expressed interest in participating. The motion uses a per‑bus estimate of $1,500, which committee sponsors said equates to funding for approximately 400 buses.
The committee added language requiring participating districts and charters to track data demonstrating effectiveness, including costs savings, and asked the Department of Education to report back to the committee after one full year of data collection. During debate members noted the pilot would likely produce only a few months of implementation data in the first year if contracts are signed in July and implementation begins in August; staff said districts could expect roughly four months of data by the following session if implementation were timely.
The motion passed on the committee floor with a recorded total of 15 ayes and 5 nays (senate 8 ayes/2 nays; house 7 ayes/3 nays). The committee chair accepted unanimous consent to adopt the language requiring reporting; the pilot will proceed as a one‑time program in the FY‑2026 budget.
