Spokane Public Schools again to consider ‘systemic shift’ toward buying its own fleet of buses

It is well understood that the wheels on the bus go ’round and ’round; evidently, so do conversations around buying the things.

The Spokane Public Schools board on Wednesday picked up yearslong talks about purchasing its own fleet of school buses, rather than contract with an outside entity as it has done since the 1970s.

The district contracts with Zūm Services, based out of California, to provide 153 buses that transport more than 4,800 kids to and from school and on field trips.

The district contracted with Zūm ahead of the 2023-24 school year, signing a five-year contract to the tune of $71.8 million. Before that, the district worked with Durham School Services for 15 years, a relationship that ended with route disruptions from bus driver shortages amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The district solicited advice from consultant Ryan Hahn, who has some 24 years’ experience working in school business and operations. With his input, district administration revisited conversation about owning their own fleet.

“Our study findings suggest that Spokane Public Schools would benefit in the short term and long term by insourcing student transportation services,” Hahn said.

District administrators have in mind a new state law that requires driver contractors to provide benefits to bus drivers more in line with other school district employees, which will increase district costs even if they continue with Zūm. The state also newly requires districts to prove they are getting a better deal by contracting with an outside provider rather than keeping their own fleet.

“For years, districts have used contractors because the labor rates were generally lower than it would be to hire and employ those folks in-house, with all of the requirements for state employment and agencies that follow those,” consultant Ryan Hahn told the board. “Now, that is looking less and less advantageous when we’re looking at cost escalations relating to adding those benefit contributions and retirement.”

By owning and operating its own fleet, the district could have more flexibility in routes and run times, administrators said. This flexibility is especially salient given the district’s ongoing effort to get kids involved in after-school activities. Coordinating transportation is a factor in this push; the district is seeing a “slight uptick” in ridership to and from activities, like sports games, Hahn said. He expects that number to stay steady in the coming years.

The school board Wednesday decided to assemble a “large-scale” work group of staff, administrators and families to plan for an in-house fleet, which would not begin operating until the district’s contract with Zūm expires in 2028. The work group would also consider the district’s ongoing musings about adjusting school start times, which goes hand in hand with bus planning.

“This is a continuation of aspirations and planning that have been in place for some time now,” Superintendent Adam Swinyard told the board. “This is just the next step in that process, as we start conducting a deeper analysis, start acquiring infrastructure, which is occurring, and then really looking closely at what type of systemic shifts would be necessary in order for us to operate efficiently.”