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District estimates added buses and $25,370 net annual cost per new route
Summary
Staff told the board that consolidating certain primaries would create new busing needs; for Bolton and Cedar Oak the district modeled one additional bus each and estimated the district’s net annual cost per new route (after a 70% ODE reimbursement) at $25,370.
Pat McGuff and operations staff explained how consolidating a school would change who qualifies for district busing and how routes would be recalculated. They noted that existing bus routes and students already riding would generally not change district costs, but students inside current walking boundaries would become newly eligible for busing if their school closed. Using the district’s assumptions about bus loading, staff estimated one additional bus would be needed for Bolton and one for Cedar Oak under the modeled scenarios.
Operations staff said each additional route carries an annual cost that is partially reimbursed by the Oregon Department of Education; "the district receives 70% reimbursement from ODE," staff said, and the resulting annual district cost per new bus route was presented as $25,370. Staff cautioned the estimate is mathematical and that precise costs depend on final boundary maps and route designs.
Why it matters: added transportation builds into both the operating cost and the family experience — school closures could transform walkable trips into bus rides and create new routing and traffic effects in neighborhoods. The district described the bus‑cost estimate as a planning number that would be refined if the board directs consolidation planning.
