Board OKs 2025–26 bus service contracts and related memorandums for emergency and activity use

The Deming Public Schools Board of Education on July 17 approved initial fleet-service contracts with two private bus operators for the 2025–26 school year and signed matching memorandums of understanding that allow the district to use contractor buses for emergency evacuations, provide a contractor rotation for routes when district drivers leave, require contractor responsibility for certain air-conditioning repairs on contractor-acquired SPED buses, and set rates for chartered activity trips.

The board approved an initial fleet-service contract with M and T Buses, Inc., in the amount of $1,382,184.88 and an initial fleet-service contract with Haynes (Haines) Buses, Inc., in the amount of $979,807.22. The board also approved separate memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with each contractor covering emergency transportation during large evacuations, the district’s attrition/route-transfer model for SPED routes, air-conditioning equipment maintenance for contractor-acquired buses, and MOUs governing chartered activity trips.

Why it matters: the contracts and MOUs together cover the district’s planned external transportation capacity for moving students during the school year, provide contingency capacity for large evacuations, and formalize how contractors may acquire routes and maintain specific equipment on buses they obtain.

Board discussion and context: district staff said many contract questions were discussed during a work session earlier in the week and that contractor representatives and district transportation staff were present to answer questions at the July 17 meeting. Staff said the emergency-transportation MOUs permit the district to call contracted buses for catastrophic events and coordinate with law enforcement and district officials to move students as needed. The attrition model MOUs give contractors the first opportunity to acquire routes when a district driver retires, resigns or is terminated; the air-conditioning clauses require contractor responsibility for AC maintenance and major repairs on SPED buses that become contractor property under that model. For chartered activity trips, the MOUs set mileage and hourly driver rates and preserve a district-first rotation for district-owned buses before contractor buses are assigned.

Formal actions: the board moved and approved each contract and its companion MOUs in separate motions; roll-call votes were taken and recorded as affirmative. District presenters emphasized that rates for activity trips did not change from the prior year and that the MOUs replicate the same terms for both contractors.

Discussion vs. decision: board members thanked staff for a prior workshop and for the level of detail provided; several members emphasized fiscal stewardship because the contracts together total more than $2 million. No motions were tabled or amended during the open-session discussion.

Next steps: the contracts and MOUs will take effect for the 2025–26 school year as approved and the district will coordinate with the contractors under the rotation and emergency procedures described in the MOUs.