How can families who have received a safety assessment determine the one route identified by the Office of Student Transportation to be safe enough for walking to school and meeting the distance requirements in the new non-transportation areas?

Staff in the Office of Student Transportation will provide this information to families that request it. 

In many cases, there are several ways to travel between home and school and HCPSS believes parents/guardians are able to make the best choice for their child, whether that is car transportation, public transportation options, or walking one of several routes.

Why does the Board of Education utilize an out of state school bus contractor, rather than local companies?

Despite Howard County’s history of locally held contracts over past years, HCPSS has experienced a significant shortage of bus drivers necessary to cover all of the required routes over the past several years. The driver shortage fluctuated between approximately 85-95 drivers, short of what was required. 

In addition, language in the existing contracts and RFPs greatly limited the school system’s ability to adjust or cancel contracts that were not being fulfilled. This alone required a new RFP to be created and issued.  

Would additional funding help with solutions to provide transportation to more families?

Additional funding would only be beneficial if HCPSS believed that additional buses and drivers would be available to run more routes. The Office of Student Transportation has no indication from its contractors at this point that they would be able to exceed the 478 routes anticipated to provide transportation to students who live in transportation areas and registered for the service.

What is the status of the appeals made by families in non-transportation areas who believe they should receive transportation service for issues of safety?

Decisions for appeals will be communicated to the appellant by August 1, 2023. The Office of Student Transportation is working through the process detailed in the Implementation Procedures for Board of Education Policy 5200 Student Transportation as quickly as possible, understanding that this process requires the Student Walking Route and Bus Stop Review Committee, made up of government agencies and a community member, to consider the appeal. 

Is there anything the Superintendent can do to provide transportation to more students while maintaining the new school start times?

No. Transportation services are determined in Board of Education Policy 5200 Student Transportation. The Implementation Procedures of Policy 5200 do not permit the Superintendent to reduce the demarcation line, which is the action that would result in transportation to more families. 

Is it possible to keep changes to school start times if any non-transportation zones revert back to the distance in the policy’s previous form?

Due to changes made to Board of Education Policy 5200 Student Transportation, there are approximately 1,200 students from pre-k through grade 5 who now live in non-transportation areas. Making a change for just elementary students would result in the need for approximately 24 additional bus routes. As explained in detail here, an increase of any routes above 478 would not be able to be implemented successfully. 

Is it possible for Board Policy 5200 Student Transportation to revert to its previous form, or at least the non-transportation zone distances?

The changes made to Policy 5200 in May 2022 that increased non-transportation areas, distances to bus stops, and transportation registration were made to support the change in school start times for the 2023-2024 school year. If the Policy were reverted, it would mean start times would revert back to the 2022-2023 school year schedule and it is likely that thousands of students would not receive transportation due to the significant increase in drivers and buses required to transport those students. 

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