Revamped deals for school buses seem promising

The state has transported its network of school buses miles in the right direction with a more efficient way of contracting for services and operating them, restoring service to about 1,000 students this school year.

Assuming the pilot project using new bus tracking systems and procurement protocols works as expected in the coming school year, state education officials should support their expansion statewide.

The public schools have lacked sufficient controls on their bus contracts and expenditures for far too long, and with continued funding restrictions anticipated, efficiency improvements must be employed as soon as possible.

The changes have been in the works since the 2012 legislative session, when lawmakers sounded the alarm about uncontrolled increases in spending on bus contracts.

Elected officials drew a line in the sand and forced the state Department of Education to curtail routes rather than draw down more general funds to cover costs.

That seemed like pretty tough love at the time, but as things have turned out, it was probably one of the big favors legislators did for taxpayers that year.

Their resolve was reinforced last November when the final report of a student transportation study came out, citing the need for procurement reforms. In the 2013 session, two bills were enacted changing statutory language so that the DOE would have more flexibility in the way contracts were set up.

Some inherent challenges, including a dearth of competitive bidding in certain regions, contributed to the rising costs. Although suspicions of collusion were not confirmed, the plain fact that the cost item nearly tripled over the course of a few years signaled that something was fundamentally wrong.

Ray L’Heureux, assistant superintendent for the DOE’s Office of School Facilities and Support Services, said there have been discussions with contractors, who now seem ready to change the way of doing business. Essentially, he said, the DOE will now be purchasing bus time in its contracts rather than specific routes, with the option of redeploying buses if changes need to be made within the life of the contract.

That was the most fundamental change, but during the testing period earlier this year, the DOE also has piloted some global-positioning system equipment that has helped the office monitor the bus movements. Routes that partially overlapped were discovered, opening the door to reconfigurations that move more students with less expense, L’Heureux said.

And now the revised system is ready for a test in the Pearl City-Aiea area, restoring rides for about half of the 2,000 students whose service was cut in the last budget. It was selected to go first largely because its population density enabled such savings to be realized and because numerous contracts there were about to lapse.

The remaining timetable also makes sense: the rest of Oahu will be converted in the 2014-15 school year, followed the next year by the neighbor island districts.

Hawaii’s statewide school system, spread over several islands, presents efficiency challenges not faced in smaller mainland districts. But these revisions seem promising, and they underscore what’s possible with closer supervision of contracts — a lesson that surely could be applied elsewhere in state government.