Opponents of the potential privatization of bus drivers in the Evesham Township School District certainly won’t be caught asleep at the wheel.
Similar to the past few regular meetings of the ETSD Board of Education, public comments at the board’s most recent meeting consisted of drivers, parents and community members all looking to make their opposition to privatization loud and clear.
Members and supporters of the district’s transportation staff once again wore yellow shirts and carried signs opposing privatization, and many in the audience once again cheered or clapped when speakers denounced any potential privatization efforts.
The debate on potential privatization stretches back to the board’s final meeting of January, when the board approved a consulting firm to analyze the district’s current busing services and routes to create bid packages.
Once those packages are complete, private transportation companies could then offer bids of service at a cost potentially lower than what the district currently spends.
As noted by officials, members of the board have chosen to explore the potential privatization of the district’s busing services in response to deep cuts in state aid monies the district must contend with in the next several years.
Before cuts were announced last summer, state aid was originally set to contribute nearly $14 million to the district’s $80.4 million general fund budget for 2018-2019 school year.
Now, recent estimates from district officials project a total annual loss in state aid between $8 million and $9 million by the 2024–2025 school year, leaving the district with an estimated $5.9 million in state aid annually.
In response to questions from the public, Superintendent John Scavelli Jr. noted that, as of the BOE’s most recent meeting, the bid package for the district’s busing services had not yet been advertised, although it was nearly complete.
In that bid package, Scavelli said the district has required that any bidder would be required to offer a job to all the district’s current drivers.
Scavelli said the district was not planning to privatize any bus aides, so those services were not included in the bid package.
Scavelli said the district was also planning to keep ownership of its buses and continue using its current mechanics to maintain the buses moving forward.
Also in response to questions from the public, Scavelli said the only way the district could actually compare the cost of whether privatization of bus drivers would or would not save the district money was to put the service out for bids.
“We know that with what we’re facing over the next several years – a multi-million dollar loss in state aid – we’re going to be looking at all areas over the next several years,” Scavelli said.
To that point, when Scavelli spoke at the board’s most recent meeting, he also noted that earlier the board had actually rejected all bids received for potentially privatizing the district’s grounds, maintenance and snow removal services, as they were not “financially beneficial” to the district.
While several of the speakers at the board’s recent meetings have agreed the board must find ways to save money in the coming years, no speaker has been in favor of those savings coming from the privatization of the district’s busing services.
Those speaking against privatization at BOE meetings have argued that private busing companies offer lower pay and little to no benefits, leading to more frequent turnover in staff and therefore a lower quality in service.
Opponents of privatization also argue the district would have weakened ability to control, or even discipline drivers if necessary, if those drivers were under the employee of a private company, as opposed to being directly employed by the district.
At the BOE’s most recent meeting, resident Katrina Knott spoke of her young daughter Arianna, who currently attends preschool at Rice Elementary School after battling Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia for much of her young life.
Knott, who noted she works for a district with privatized busing, spoke positively of the bus drivers and aides who are employed directly by the ETSD, as her daughter has medical devices attached to her and requires timely treatments, meaning she needs to be home on time for regularly scheduled care.
“The bus drivers and aides that we have on the bus now could not be a better fit to help alleviate my pain and allow me to be comfortable with my daughter going to school…there is no way that I would ever allow my daughter on the bus with one of those [privatized] bus drivers,” Knott said.
Although no member of the board spoke in favor or in opposition to privatization, several board members did thank those who spoke at the meeting for sharing their opinions, as well as those who have been sending messages to members of the board in recent weeks.
