Lafourche Parish studies options for school buses

Private school bus contracts in Lafourche Parish may be non-existent in a few years.

At its meeting last week, the parish school board asked the transportation department to conduct a cost analysis between leasing and privatizing buses.

According to Transportation Manager Royce Doucet, phasing out the use of private buses is a board decision, not a department or administrative one.

“In order to do away with private buses the school board would have to mandate that school drivers use only leased or parish-owned buses. We (the transportation department and the administration) can’t make that call,” he said.

The cost analysis is being done now to determine if the school board can do away with using privately owned buses in the next three to five years. As of now, Lafourche Parish has 20 private buses and 115 buses leased through B&L Transportation Inc. out of Larose.

Back in 2001, the parish had more private buses and fewer leased buses.

“Some of the private owners have opted to drive leased buses because the cost of maintenance to own their own buses was becoming too costly,” Doucet said.

Upon availability, a contracted private bus owners can choose to drive a leased parish bus. It’s a trend the school board is pushing.

Right now, private school bus drivers’ salary schedules, which have not been amended since 1986, show that the drivers are compensated for “mileage one way,” which means the distance the bus travels after picking up its first child until its final destination or school.

According to Doucet, this also refers to the distance from the school to the site where the last child is dropped off in the afternoon.

Lafourche Parish private drivers are paid 96 cents for the first six miles, 85 cents for the next six miles and 74 cents for additional miles over 12.

For example, if a private driver averages of 50 miles per day, the annual operation rate for the bus would be a little over $14,000 a year in compensation for maintenance.

With fuel prices rising, the school board may supply private bus operators with the school board’s Fuelman card to compensate for the increase in fuel costs upon approval from the board’s attorney.

Transportation Committee Chairman Jon Callais said, if approved, each private driver would be authorized to use a Fuelman card, and the school board would pay for the fuel used by the private owners. Prior to this, private owners supplied their own fuel.

And until the cards are issued in January, they will continue to do so, according to Doucet.

Private bus operator Carmen Bruce questioned the availability of funds in the school board’s budget. Doucet said adjustments could be made because fuel increases are not budgeted.

B&L Transportation Inc. installed crossing arms on private buses last week. Doucet said that the Department of Education encouraged all school districts to comply with the unfunded mandate to enhance school transportation safety.

Up next for the Transportation Department is tackling the most anticipated issue – air conditioning the school’s fleet. Unlike Terrebonne Parish, Lafourche is just being the process of seeking information from other parishes, which have already begun retrofitting their fleets.

According to Bill Schwertz, a spokesman for B&L Transportation Inc., the estimated cost for retrofitting the present buses with air conditioning is close to $10,000 per bus.

The board has asked Doucet to research other companies and compare the prices to B&L Transportation Inc.’s estimate.