Board awards transportation contract, sets transfer slots and approves DECA trip

The Forest Grove School District Board of Directors on Feb. 25 approved several routine and contract items including a new student transportation contract, the district’s inter‑district transfer timeline and slots for 2025‑26, and an overnight student trip.

Transportation contract: The board voted to award Student Transportation Services RFP 24‑1125 to Mid Columbia Bus, pending final contract negotiations. Director of Finance Eileen Klute told the board the recommended contract would run 10 years with a five‑year extension option and cover home‑to‑school routes, special‑education routes, McKinney‑Vento routes, afterschool trips and athletic trips for the district’s roughly 68‑bus fleet. Klute said she annualized the bids to compare them and found an approximate $321,000 annual cost gap favoring Mid Columbia over the other bidder, First Student. She also said the contract as presented represents about a 3.5% increase compared with this year’s costs.

Board members asked about how rate increases are passed to drivers; Klute said annual contract increases are passed through to drivers under the contractor’s pay structure and the district has in past years negotiated additional adjustments when needed for retention. The motion passed after a standard aye/oppose voice vote.

Inter‑district transfers: The board approved the recommended inter‑district transfer timeline and release of 20 slots for the 2025‑26 school year. Superintendent Suzanne West said the timeline aligns with neighboring districts and the slot recommendation is based on current enrollment and projected class sizes.

DECA overnight trip: The board approved an overnight trip for Forest Grove High School DECA students to attend the International Career Development Conference in Orlando, Florida, from 04/24/2025 through 05/01/2025. Superintendent West told the board the trip’s per‑student cost was presented on a tiered basis: she cited $2,000 per leadership student, $1,500 for another participant tier and no cost listed for state champions (as presented). Staff said the DECA group raises funds to cover participant costs.

Budget committee elections: During the budget committee preliminary meeting earlier the same evening committee members elected Valerie (Val) Ingram as budget committee chair and Jordan Miller as vice chair. The nominations were moved, seconded and approved by voice vote; no roll‑call tallies were recorded in the meeting minutes.

Consent agenda and other routine items: The board approved the consent agenda and several personnel and routine items without separate discussion.

Why it matters: The transportation contract affects daily pupil transportation for hundreds of students and sets multi‑year cost commitments the district must budget for; the inter‑district slots set how many nonresident students the district will accept next year; the DECA trip is a board‑approved overnight student activity.

Motion details and outcomes are recorded in district minutes.