Indianapolis education leaders debate who should manage school transportation as task forces form

At its September meeting at Broad Ripple Middle School, the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance heard a detailed briefing on school transportation from Indianapolis Public Schools and charter-school leaders, followed by more than an hour of public comment that split along lines of control, equity and funding.

Indianapolis Public Schools deputy superintendent Andrew Stokes gave an overview of how the district delivers transportation, the program’s cost drivers and steps taken to reduce expenses while preserving access. "Transportation is a major equity lever," Stokes said, adding that IPS spends "about $40,000,000 a year" on contracted yellow-bus service. He said the system’s all-in cost per transported student is roughly $2,300 and that the district’s contract with First Student includes an escalator projected to raise yellow-bus costs about 4 percent for 2025–26.

The presentation described several core elements of how IPS assigns service. Eligibility is tied to a student’s home address and an enrollment zone introduced under the district’s Rebuilding Stronger initiative; walk zones vary by grade level, and high-school students may use public transit when a trip is under roughly 50 minutes and requires no transfers via IndyGo. Stokes said IPS reduced its daily routes through optimization from roughly 400 to about 280 and estimated the enrollment-zone redesign produced about an $8 million reduction in transportation expenses last…