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Committee green-lights $600,000 pilot for student bus-routing software; districts to report savings
Summary
A JFAC motion approved $600,000 one-time to pilot student transportation routing software for roughly 400 buses; participating districts must report cost and savings to the legislature after a full year of data.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee recommended a due-pass motion Wednesday to fund a one-time $600,000 pilot for student transportation routing software.
Jared Tetro, budget analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told members the central services division request originally sought larger funding but that the current motion funds a pilot. Senator Woodward moved the FY2026 program-maintenance motion to add a one-time $600,000 from the general fund to support a student-transportation routing software pilot; Representative Petzke seconded the motion.
Committee witnesses said the Department of Education surveyed districts and charters and received responses from about 70 districts and charters; members later cited 43 districts that had expressed interest in participating. The office described the pilot funding at $1,500 per bus, which equates to support for about 400 buses under the $600,000 appropriation. Tetro said, if contracts are issued and implemented by July, participating districts could generate roughly four months of data in the first school year and approximately six to seven months by the start of the next legislative session.
Representative Petzke said the motion includes language requiring any district or charter that participates in the pilot to track necessary data to demonstrate effectiveness, including costs and savings, and to report results back to the legislature after one full year of data. The committee approved the motion and later accepted the related language; the transcript records the committee’s recommendation to advance the pilot with a due-pass vote and specifies that the department will report back to the committee following collection of one full year of data.
Committee roll-call totals recorded a split vote across chambers: the transcript shows the Senate voting 8 ayes and 2 nays and the House voting 7 ayes and 3 nays, producing a combined committee recommendation to move the pilot forward with a due-pass recommendation.
