The Royal Oak Schools Board of Education on June 25 authorized the superintendent to finalize and execute a five-year contract addendum with Durham School Services LP for transportation services.

The contract presented to the board includes a proposed rate schedule that staff described as an initial 6% increase in year one, 5% in years two and three, and 3% in years four and five; staff said the year-one increase reflects adjustments to daily route rates and a driver pay increase built into the first year.

Ms. Abella, district finance staff, said the district currently leases buses from Durham and that the lease rates include replacement of roughly 19 buses that will need to be replaced over the next five years. "Those costs for those 19 are included in these lease rates," she said, explaining that the contract rates account for vehicle replacement under the lease model.

Board members pressed staff about electric vehicle (EV) buses and grant opportunities. Board members and staff discussed that EV buses typically involve different procurement and infrastructure considerations: several speakers noted that some EV bus grants are tied to bus decommissioning or to districts that purchase buses directly rather than leasing them. Ms. Abella advised the board that if the district chose to pursue EV vehicles it would need to evaluate grants, infrastructure upgrades at the bus garage (charging infrastructure) and whether district ownership rather than leasing would be required to secure grant funds.

On the contract term and exit provisions, Ms. Abella confirmed that the presented Durham agreement contains cancellation and notice clauses that would allow the district to exit under defined conditions.

Action taken: the board approved the five-year Durham School Services addendum by voice vote; the motion passed and the resolution authorizes the superintendent to finalize and execute the contract addendum.

What to watch: staff said the district will continue to evaluate EV bus grants and infrastructure needs; any decision to change from the current leasing model to district ownership would have budget and facility implications and was not decided during the meeting.