If the average parent shelled out roughly $1,750 for the school year to transport their child to and from classes, they likely would expect limousine treatment. In fact, however, that is the approximate bill the state — and thus, the taxpayer — does pay for each rider of the public schools’ bus system. And given the budget squeeze paring back the service in the past year, it’s doubtful many parents feel happy with what they’re getting these days.

The state Department of Education is being prescribed a bitter pill in the pursuit of a solution for its poorly managed school bus service, and the sensible consensus from leaders is that the state needs to swallow it. The good news is that officials seem ready to do what’s necessary.

Recent calls for reform in delivering this service have been triggered by a disturbing and widely publicized statistic: Since the 2005-06 school year, costs have tripled to a point far above national norms.

After limping along with the problems for years, DOE officials at last commissioned a comprehensive review of student transportation operations and management.

Hired in September, Management Partnership Services Inc., a Maryland-based consultancy, has completed a 69-page analysis that identified the problems in the operation, top to bottom.

A FEW bullet points from the report:

» The experts acknowledge a key handicap suppressing the competition in the market — geography. Contractors must make a capital investment in the buses that may not be easily directed to another use if a contract is lost because of the interisland-transport constraints. This raises the risk factor for potential bidders.

» However, the state might be better able to mitigate these constraints if the laws defining many of them are loosened, according to the study, leaving the DOE with the flexibility to better manage the contracting process and the contractors.

» There are now eligibility rules that a student must live a certain distance from school to ride and must pay a required fare. However, according to the report, the schools lack mapping technology at the school and can’t apply the rules consistently. And at the DOE level, the costs of managing that system have outrun the revenues produced — amounting to less than 5 percent of the funding.

The recommendation: Transition to a plan that charges a fare only for students living relatively close to the school, allowing others to ride free.

» Contracts lack sufficient oversight, the consultants concluded, which means efficiency could be improved through increased monitoring and better training for staff. The audit raised questions about "anti-competitive practices" and urged the DOE to systematically review services for potential cost savings.

» Modernize the operations, implementing technology that would allow better control of routes and ridership efficiencies.

The legislature, which could have done more when complaints about problems were raised in the past, needs to take some ownership of this problem as well. Lawmakers are set to discuss these findings at a briefing today, and they must pledge to ride herd on the issue as the DOE works to overhaul its system.

The two-month study cost $109,000, which is a drop in the bucket measured against the funding that may have been misspent over the years with inadequate stewardship by the state. The report has been enlightening, and should prove to be a worthy investment if it ultimately leads to development of a bus network that delivers safe transportation for children at a far more reasonable cost than Hawaii now pays.