Board discusses blended transit plan for Career Impact Academy; lease-to-buy 77-passenger bus proposed

District administration and the finance committee discussed options June 9 for providing student transportation between the two high schools and the new Career Impact Academy.

Vice President Anderson and staff described a blended approach that would lease a 77-passenger school bus (three-year lease with an option to purchase) to run a full route all day, combined with a shorter shuttle route supplied by Valley bus for tight turnaround periods. The committee favored the blended model as more flexible and less expensive than other options considered.

Why it matters: Transportation costs and ridership are uncertain for a newly opened program. Administrators sought a solution that can scale as ridership becomes known, provide winter-weather reliability and be used for extracurricular and summer needs if a district-owned bus is acquired.

Key points from the discussion

- Cost and funding: Administration reported the blended model would cost in the low hundreds of thousands annually when including the bus lease/purchase, driver salary and Valley shuttle. One estimate mentioned in committee was roughly $170,000 per year for the blended scenario (lease, driver and shuttle included); staff said a New Markets Tax Credit grant of about $1.9 million for the Career Impact Academy project and a related $240,000 community-benefit grant would help offset initial transportation costs while the district tests the model.

- Operational flexibility: A district-owned or leased bus would let the district run other routes (extracurricular, summer school) and respond to needs that Valley bus alone could not meet in peak periods. Committee members cited uncertainty about exact ridership patterns (e.g., differences in schedules for seniors and for students involved in activities) and said the blended model provides flexibility while the district collects ridership data.

- Next steps: Administration will test ridership patterns in the academy’s first year, use the New Markets Tax Credit community-benefit grant to offset cost during the pilot and refine the model for future years. No formal board vote was taken; the committee discussion endorsed continuing with a lease-to-buy and blended operations approach while tracking costs and ridership.

Board members asked whether students would be expected to ride district transportation (staff said families may choose other transportation but that district shuttles are likely to be heavily used, especially in winter) and about reimbursement and mileage rules the district may pursue to offset costs.

The item was presented for discussion only; the board did not take formal action on June 9.