Framingham School Committee Votes 9-0 To Bring Busing Inhouse

In the March 20, 2024, meeting of the School Committee, after the public hearing on the FY25 Framingham Public Schools budget, attention turned to arguably the most pressing educational issue facing students and families in Framingham - chronically late school buses.

The meeting materials included the latest data on late buses:

Transportation Update - March 20, 2024, Meeting

which simply affirmed the familiar picture of having 57 drivers, rather than the contracted 77, and endless incidents of buses substantially late for school start, or after school pickup.

Also provided was a series of busing options for the School Committee to consider voting on:

2024-2025 Busing VOTE 3.20.24 School Committee Meeting

The School Committee considered those options, which included sticking with NRT, the current bus company, or moving to inhouse busing, where the school bus drivers would be Framingham Public Schools employees, and the School Committee would finally have complete control of its school bus service.

After a sound discussion, the School Committee decided to bring school busing inhouse beginning with the September 2026 school year. Sticking with NRT for the long term was considered a sure path to further failure, and making the switch to inhouse busing sooner than September 2026, was determined to risk a rough transition which could make matters worse.

It was the right move, as making the switch does have to be well planned.

It provides time for the school district to craft a detailed, convincing plan for the transition, which can win buy in from the city administration and the City Council, and also provides ample lead time for getting buses and drivers in place.

Bringing school buses inhouse already appears to have widespread support in the community.

The major outcome of this decision is that the School Committee and the Framingham Public Schools will finally have the control they need over a vital component of their educational operation. They have been failed not only by NRT, but also by contract mismanagement in the city administration.

It truly is time for the Framingham community to place responsibility for all aspects of school bus transportation with the School Committee and the Framingham Public Schools administration. They have been subject to the vagaries of outsourced transportation and city procurement for way too long.

NRT was a major part of the problem, but back at the start of 2023, they did provide an option to adjust the contact to boost school bus driver pay from $29/hour to $34/hour at a cost of about $550,000/year.

Framingham Must Boost School Bus Driver Pay to Avoid a Fall Disaster (April 11, 2023)

That could have solved a large part of the late bus problem.

However, the city amazingly rejected that offer, then had the contract rebid, and ended up with a new contract costing more than $1.8 million/year more than the prior one, and only boosting school bus driver pay from $29/hour to $31/hour. This was detailed in:

City of Framingham Contract Fumbles Make the School Bus Problem Worse (August 17, 2023)

It is very important to remember that the city administration has been a large part of the problem, which is why complete control of school bus transportation has to move back to the school district. Only by doing that will the problem be properly solved.

It is possible that there will be pushback by the city administration or by members of the City Council. I am already hearing rumblings that City Councilor George King is possibly trying to derail the effort to bring school busing inhouse.

Not many people turned up to the Framingham Public Schools FY25 budget annual hearing, but if any kind of resistance to bringing school busing inhouse begins to show its face in the city administration or the City Council, droves of affected parents need to bring pressure to bear on city government to support this very wise School Committee decision.

A final comment is appropriate here.

School Committee member Adam Freudberg has been a warrior driving forward the effort to bring school busing inhouse. He has spent endless amounts of time devoted to this, working with fellow School Committee members and the school district administration to get to this point. The following video remains a remarkable summary of the situation:

Framingham School Committee Member Adam Freudberg Gets the Facts Totally Right on School Busing