Coalinga-Huron Joint Unified School District Report

Coalinga-Huron Joint Unified School District Transportation Review March 14, 2011 Joel D. Montero Chief Executive Officer Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM March 14, 2011 Roger B. Campbell, Superintendent Coalinga-Huron Joint Unified School District 657 Sunset Street Coalinga, CA 93210 Dear Superintendent Campbell: In December 2010, the Coalinga-Huron Joint Unified School District and the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) entered into an agreement for a review of the district’s trans- portation services. Specifically, the agreement stated that FCMAT would perform the following: 1. Conduct a study of pupil transportation revenue, costs and encroachment. 2. Evaluate operational efficiency, department staffing and organization and make recommendations for potential cost reduction. 3. Review transportation purchasing procedures and inventory practices and make recommendations for improved efficiency. 4. Evaluate routing methodology and relative routing efficiency and make recom- mendations for improvement. 5. Evaluate and determine compliance with all laws and regulations to include Vehicle Code, Education Code, CAC Title 5, 8 and 13. 6. Evaluate driver training and compliance with driver training laws and regulations and make recommendations for improvement if needed. 7. Evaluate vehicle maintenance program, vehicle safety, compliance with vehicle maintenance laws and regulations and vehicle replacement schedule, and make recommendations for improvement. This final report contains the study team’s findings and recommendations in the above areas of review. FCMAT Joel D. Montero, Chief Executive Officer . . 1300 17th Street - CITY CENTRE, Bakersfield, CA 93 . 301-4533 Telephone 661-6 . 36-4611 Fax 661-63 . 6-4647 422 Petaluma Blvd North, Suite. C, Petaluma, CA 94952 Telephone: 707-775-2850 Fax: 707-775-2854 www.fcmat.org Administrative Agent: Christine L. Frazier - Office of Kern County Superintendent of Schools We appreciate the opportunity to serve the Caolinga-Huron Joint Unified School District and extend our thanks to all the staff for their assistance during fieldwork. Sincerely, Joel D. Montero Chief Executive Officer i TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of contents About FCMAT .........................................................................................iii Introduction ............................................................................................1 Background ......................................................................................................1 Study Guidelines ............................................................................................2 Study Team.......................................................................................................2 Executive Summary ..............................................................................3 Findings and Recommendations .....................................................7 Finances ............................................................................................................7 Routing ............................................................................................................11 Staffing ............................................................................................................15 Vehicle Maintenance ...................................................................................19 Driver Training and Safety .........................................................................23 Vehicle Replacement ..................................................................................25 Appendices ............................................................................................27 caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district ii Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM iii ABOUT FCMAT About FCMAT FCMAT’s primary mission is to assist California’s local K-14 educational agencies to identify, prevent, and resolve financial and data management challenges. FCMAT provides fiscal and data management assistance, professional development training, product development and other related school business and data services. FCMAT’s fiscal and management assistance services are used not just to help avert fiscal crisis, but to promote sound financial practices and efficient operations. FCMAT’s data management services are used to help local educational agencies (LEAs) meet state reporting responsibilities, improve data quality, and share information. FCMAT may be requested to provide fiscal crisis or management assistance by a school district, charter school, community college, county office of education, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, or the Legislature. When a request or assignment is received, FCMAT assembles a study team that works closely with the local education agency to define the scope of work, conduct on-site fieldwork and provide a written report with findings and recommendations to help resolve issues, overcome challenges and plan for the future. Study Agreements by Fiscal Year 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 Projected FCMAT also develops and provides numerous publications, software tools, workshops and professional development opportunities to help local educational agencies operate more effec- tively and fulfill their fiscal oversight and data management responsibilities. The California School Information Services (CSIS) arm of FCMAT assists the California Department of Education with the implementation of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and also maintains DataGate, the FCMAT/CSIS software LEAs use for CSIS services. FCMAT was created by Assembly Bill 1200 in 1992 to assist LEAs to meet and sustain their financial obligations. Assembly Bill 107 in 1997 charged FCMAT with responsi- bility for CSIS and its statewide data management work. Assembly Bill 1115 in 1999 codified CSIS’ mission. AB 1200 is also a statewide plan for county office of education and school districts to work together locally to improve fiscal procedures and accountability standards. Assembly Bill 2756 caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district seidutS fo rebmuN iv ABOUT FCMAT (2004) provides specific responsibilities to FCMAT with regard to districts that have received emergency state loans. In January 2006, SB 430 (charter schools) and AB 1366 (community colleges) became law and expanded FCMAT’s services to those types of LEAs. Since 1992, FCMAT has been engaged to perform nearly 850 reviews for LEAs, including school districts, county offices of education, charter schools and community colleges. The Kern County Superintendent of Schools is the administrative agent for FCMAT. The team is led by Joel D. Montero, Chief Executive Officer, with funding derived through appropriations in the state budget and a modest fee schedule for charges to requesting agencies. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 1 INTRODUCTION Introduction Background The Coalinga-Huron Joint Unified School District ‘s student attendance boundaries encompass southwest Fresno County and portions of San Benito and Monterey counties. The district serves approximately 4,400 students in Coalinga, Huron and the surrounding rural areas at four elementary schools, two middle schools and a comprehensive high school and continuation high school that share a campus in Coalinga. Three of the elementary schools and one of the middle schools are in Coalinga; one elementary school and one middle school are in Huron. Interstate 5 bisects the district. The district transports approximately 800 students on 14 bus routes, including two special education routes that transport approximately 22 students. In addition, the Fresno County Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) transports approximately 10 of the district’s special education students under its contract with First Student. In December 2010, the district entered into a study agreement with the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT). The study specifies that FCMAT will perform the following: 1. Conduct a study of pupil transportation revenue, costs and encroachment. 2. Evaluate operational efficiency, department staffing and organization and make recommendations for potential cost reduction. 3. Review transportation purchasing procedures and inventory practices and make recommendations for improved efficiency. 4. Evaluate routing methodology and relative routing efficiency and make recommendations for improvement. 5. Evaluate and determine compliance with all laws and regulations to include Vehicle Code, Education Code, CAC Title 5, 8 and 13. 6. Evaluate driver training and compliance with driver training laws and regula- tions and make recommendations for improvement if needed. 7. Evaluate vehicle maintenance program, vehicle safety, compliance with vehicle maintenance laws and regulations and vehicle replacement schedule, and make recommendations for improvement. caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 2 INTRODUCTION Study Team The study team was composed of the following members: Michelle Plumbtree Tim Purvis* FCMAT Chief Management Analyst Director of Transportation Petaluma, CA Poway Unified School District Poway, CA John Lotze Michael Rea* FCMAT Public Information Specialist Executive Director Bakersfield, CA West County Transportation Agency Santa Rosa, CA *As members of this study team, these consultants were not representing their respective employers but were working solely as independent contractors for FCMAT. Study Guidelines FCMAT visited the district on February 1-3, 2011, to conduct interviews with staff, collect data, review documents, and inspect facilities. This report is the result of those activities and is divided into the following sections: I. Finances II. Routing III. Staffing IV. Vehicle Maintenance V. Driver Training and Safety VI. Vehicle Replacement Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Executive Summary Funding School transportation in California has been inadequately funded for many years, and the state’s current fiscal crisis has resulted in a further reduction of 20% for fiscal years 2009-10 and 2010- 11. The district’s school transportation funding is slightly higher than the statewide average. The district’s Annual Report of Pupil Transportation (Form TRAN), which is used to report transportation costs to the state, inaccurately reported in its Severely Disabled/Orthopedically Impaired (SD/OI) column the special education local plan area’s (SELPA’s) excess transportation costs rather than the district’s costs for these students. Several expenditure categories that are charged to the district’s home-to-school transportation account should be charged to other appropriate accounts. These include labor and parts for school vans and for maintenance and grounds department vehicles, and all fuel costs. During every high school class period, the district provides bus transportation to its farm, which is several blocks from the school. This is being charged as home-to-school transportation but should be charged as a field trip. The district also provides bus transportation for after-school enrichment and other activities. The district should ensure that transportation for enrichment is charged to the enrichment it is provided for and charged to the appropriate program. The district charges $1.28 per mile for the use of vans for small student groups, which is low compared to charges in similar districts. The district needs to determine its cost to operate these vehicles and set an accurate rate. The district does not charge fees for home-to-school transportation even though such fees are allowed by law. However, FCMAT concurs with the district’s opinion that because the majority of its students are from low income households it is not practical to charge such fees. Routing Most of the district’s bus routes serve a particular geographic area and transport elementary, middle school and high school students to their respective schools, so adjusting bell schedules to lengthen the time between them would not provide additional efficiencies and cost savings. In Huron, one bus route serves the northern area and another route serves the southern area; each of these two routes has approximately 11 students. These two routes could be consolidated to one, but the ride time would be longer for some of the students. The district should analyze current practices that have been in place for some time to ensure that the cost of providing such services is understood. Every dollar spent for these services is a dollar that could be spent in some other way for the district’s students. For instance, providing bus transportation to its farm during every high school class period could be eliminated if these programs could be brought back to the high school campus, and transportation for after-school enrichment and activities is not required by law. The district should explore eliminating these services. The district operates several costly bus routes, including two that serve few students in rural areas. The district should explore the feasibility of eliminating these routes. The district should also continue providing transportation for students with interdistrict transfer agreements only as long as space is available on current routes. caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Double bus runs are required on Wednesday mornings because the high school starts later due to teacher collaboration time. Using a uniform calendar districtwide would eliminate this costly practice, though it may required modifications to the collective bargaining agreements.. Staffing The transportation department is staffed with an MOT director, a supervisor, a senior secretary, three full time equivalent (FTE) mechanics, 14 permanent bus drivers and six substitute bus drivers. This staffing is adequate but has some inefficiencies. The district should consider reducing the senior secretary position to ten months per year and reassigning 0.5 FTE of one of the mechanic positions to permanently staff one additional bus driver position. One substitute bus driver is a retiree but is permanently assigned to a regular route. This position should be staffed by a permanent school bus driver. Almost all of the district’s bus drivers also perform other duties to guarantee an eight-hour per day position. Split position such as these usually result in a loss of productivity in the non-bus- driving work. The district should consider separating bus driving duties from other duties. Other inefficiencies include having eight bus drivers report early to work to ride the bus to their work location at Huron and one route driver who is paid approximately two hours of overtime per day. These practices should cease. The district is installing new TransTraks transportation routing and management software and will need to provide significant training to ensure its successful implementation and optimal continued use and effectiveness. The senior secretary and the transportation supervisor both have significant department and institutional knowledge. The district should begin succession planning to ensure organizational continuity in the event that these individuals leave the district. Vehicle Maintenance The district adheres to the required 45-day, 3000 mile preventive maintenance program for its school buses but has no preventive maintenance program for its trucks, vans and other vehicles. This will reduce the serviceable life of these vehicles. Inspections should be scheduled and tracked to reduce costs. The district received the highest grade of “satisfactory” from the California Highway Patrol’s Motor Carrier Safety Unit. However, the district’s shop employees are not as productive as they could be. There is no collection of work order data, and no vehicle maintenance cost data was available. Mechanics purchase parts, but the invoices are not always recorded on the work order. The district has no inventory system for bus and vehicle parts, and the parts storage includes many parts for vehicles the district no longer operates. Staff need and desire training and technology to enable mechanics to diagnose and repair newer computer-controlled engines. During fieldwork, FCMAT observed and noted the significant safety risk created by a vehicle lift that was not holding hydraulic pressure. The district has since replaced this lift. Driver Training and Safety The district’s school bus driver training records are organized and comply with applicable laws and regulations. Few school bus accidents have occurred and there is no noticeable damage to Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY buses. However, the district does not have a transportation safety plan and needs to develop one in compliance with the education code. Teachers and coaches who drive small groups of students in district vans should receive defensive driver training. The district should consider enrolling these employees in a drug and alcohol testing program similar to that required of school bus drivers. The special education department could provide in-service training for the school bus drivers regarding students’ disabilities and strategies to mitigate behavior-related safety issues on the bus. Vehicle Replacement The district has taken advantage of school bus replacement grant programs. Some older buses remain in its fleet but will be replaced when additional grant funds become available. All of the district’s diesel buses comply with the California Air Resources Board’s rules requiring particulate filters. caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 6 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 7 FINANCES Findings and Recommendations Finances School transportation in California has been inadequately funded for many years. Until 1977 school districts reported their operational costs and the state reimbursed those costs in the subse- quent year. Capital costs were never reimbursed. After the passage of Proposition 13, the state gradually reduced the percentage of reimbursement. During the 1982-83 school year only 80% of reported costs were reimbursed, and in that year the state capped the apportionment to each district at their reported amount. Only occasional cost of living adjustments have been made since then. Because costs have risen and revenue has remained mostly unchanged, the state’s contribution to transportation funding continued to decline. For the 2008-09 school year, state funding paid for only approximately 45% of reported transportation costs. This was the highest level of funding in recent years and was identified as each participating school district’s “approved apportionment.” The state applied a 19.84% deficit factor to that approved apportionment in 2009-10 and a 19.81% deficit factor in 2010-11. As a result, state funding now pays for approxi- mately 35% of the cost of pupil transportation; districts must pay approximately 65% of these costs. School districts report their pupil transportation costs to the state on the Annual Report of Pupil Transportation (Form TRAN). The TRAN is part of the unaudited actual financial report that is usually generated every September and that includes final financial data for the fiscal year that ended June 30. The TRAN reports the number of students transported, the miles travelled, the cost to operate the program and other information. The TRAN is divided into two columns: one column reports regular education home-to-school transportation (HTS) and the other reports transportation of severely disabled, orthopedically impaired (SD/OI) students Table 1 summarizes the district’s TRAN data for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years. Table 1: Coalinga-Huron Join Unified School District TRAN data, 2008-09 and 2009-10 2008-09 2008-09 2009-10 2009-10 HTS SD/OI HTS SD/OI No. of Buses 23 1 23 2 No. of Students 946 8 972 10 No. of Students with IEPs 26 8 26 10 No. of Miles 325,539 39,683 257,010 35,625 Approved Cost $1,061,067.00 $42,020.00 $1,128,380.00 $51,502.70 Cost per Mile $2.97 $0.05 $4.06 $0.07 Cost per Student $1,024.10 $252.50 $1,075.70 $244.78 Revenue $520,470.00 $ --- $417,360.00 $ --- General Fund Contribution $540,597.00 $42,020.00 $711,020.00 $51,502.70 Percent of Transportation Costs funded by General Fund Contribution 50.94% 100% 63.01% 100% caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 8 FINANCES For the TRAN data in Table 1, district staff enter the number of buses, students and miles. The financial information is automatically transferred from the Standard Account Code Structure (SACS) software. HTS costs are reported as a part of Program 7230, and SD/OI costs are reported as a part of Program 7240. For the 2010-11 school year, the district uses 14 buses and serves approximately 796 students. This is a significant reduction in the number of students transported. Although the TRAN reports 23 buses for 2008-09 and 2009-10, there were only 14 bus routes in those years. The following items in the TRAN information are also improperly or inaccurately reported; these items increase the district’s general fund contribution to transportation: 1. The district operates round trips between the high school and the school farm each class period. These trips are not home-to-school transportation; they should be billed as field trips. 2. Mechanic’s labor hours, parts, vehicle fluids and fuel vehicles other than buses are charged to pupil transportation (HTS, Resource 7230). These costs should be charged to the appropriate department for each vehicle, such as the maintenance or grounds department. In spite of inaccurate cost reporting, the district has a lower than average general fund contribu- tion to home-to-school transportation. The district’s TRAN’s SD/OI column reports the bill-back charge from the Fresno County SELPA for students that the SELPA transports through their contract with First Student, a for- profit school transportation contractor. However, the total cost of this transportation is reported by the Fresno County Office of Education on its TRAN, so the district’s report of these costs duplicates the reporting. The California Department of Education (CDE) does not have any guidelines regarding to this type of reporting. The CDE’s interest is that districts and county offices report the costs related to the funding they receive. Although the district does not receive any SD/OI funding, there are other costs that should be reported in that column. Specifically, the district transports approximately 22 SD/OI students on two bus routes and has provided approximately this level of special education transportation for many years. These costs should be separated and reported in the SD/OI column. The approved home-to-school transportation cost reported on the TRAN is overstated. Making the above changes will reduce the reported HTS cost and associated general fund contribution. The district operates 11 passenger vans and station wagons to transport small student groups or teams. These groups are charged $1.28 per mile for the use of these vans. Although FCMAT has seen other districts charge both lower and higher rates for similar use, the district has no operational or cost data to justify its rate. The current IRS rate for mileage is $0.51 per mile. The American Automobile Association (AAA) reports that the ownership and operating costs of small, medium and large sedans ranges from $0.366 per mile to $0.926 per mile depending on the cost of the vehicle and the annual mileage. The district will need to calculate its own rate based on actual costs, including purchase or financing costs, maintenance and fuel costs. Field trips have been charged to the users at the TRAN cost per mile rate. Because it does not account for labor costs, using this rate can result in charges that are too low for short trips that take a long time and chargers that are too high for long trips that take a short time. In addition, the TRAN cost is arrived at by taking all of the home-to-school transportation costs and dividing Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 9 FINANCES them by the home-to-school transportation miles. An accurate field trip rate should include two components: a mileage rate that reflects the cost to operate the bus for the trip, including fuel, engine fluids, fair share of bus maintenance; and an average hourly rate that reflects the cost of the driver, including salary, benefits and overtime. In addition, establishing a minimum charge of two hours would more accurately reflect the cost for very short trips when a driver would be paid for that amount of time. The field trip approval process is cumbersome. The district’s form requires various levels of administrative approval. Sometimes the trip has already been taken before all of the signatures are obtained. The transportation department has recognized this flaw and requires that the teacher, athletic director or school fax the form to the department before all approvals are received so that the department can schedule the trip. The problem, however, is that the department could schedule a trip for which adequate funding is not available exist or that an administrator does not feel is appropriate. The district recently purchased and is implementing TransTraks school transportation management software, which may provide site-based online field trip requests and approvals to speed up this process. In 1992, the California Supreme Court ruled that it was legal for school districts to charge fees for most home-to-school transportation. Students who are indigent may not be charged; most define as indigent those students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The Coalinga- Huron Joint Unified School District does not charge fees for transportation. Because nearly 80% of the district’s students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, FCMAT concurs with the district’s determination that it is not feasible to charge such fees; any fee program would cost more to administer than the revenue it would generate. Recommendations The district should: 1. Charge the costs of labor, parts and fuel for vehicles to the appropriate departments. 2. Charge the school farm transportation as a field trip. 3. Separate report its own SD/OI costs in the appropriate column on the TRAN report. 4. Calculate an accurate per-mile rate to charge for the use of vans and station wagons. 5. Calculate an accurate rate for charging field trips, based on mileage and labor costs, and include a minimum charge to better recoup the cost of short trips. caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 10 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 11 ROUTING Routing The district operates 12 home-to-school routes and two routes that serve severely disabled special education students. The special education routes are customized and provide door-to-door service for students who attend programs in the district and whose IEPs require transportation as a related service. Each of the home-to-school routes transports all elementary, middle and high school students in a defined geographic area. These routes have remained largely unchanged over the years. Users generally consider the district’s school transportation system to be safe, timely and responsive to their needs. Because of reduced school transportation funding, school districts throughout California have reduced or eliminated home-to-school transportation for regular education students. Strategies for reducing transportation costs include extending nonservice zones to reduce the number of students who qualify for transportation, aligning bell times so that one bus can be used for more than one run, or eliminating service to certain geographical areas. The district’s Board Policy 3541 (a) states the following: Transportation for Home to School will be provided to those students whose address is 2 miles or greater in radius from the center of Dawson School Administration Office or the Huron Elementary School Administration Office. The district follows this policy, except in the case of the trailer park and subdivision just west on Highway 198 across the bridge. It is not uncommon for school districts to provide service within a nonservice zone for safety or local reasons. “Nonservice zone” is the preferred descriptive term for areas not served by school transportation. The phrase “walking distances” is sometimes used but is not accurate because the nonservice area is measured as a radius from a central point, not a distance walked or traveled along surface streets. Districts need to communicate the expectation that parents are responsible for ensuring their children’s safe travel to and from school if they walk or ride a bicycle. Similarly, parents should accompany their children to the bus stop and remain with them to ensure their safety. Because of the rural nature of the district, it is unlikely that extending the nonservice area to three or four miles would result in reduced bus routes or significant cost savings. The district’s Board Policy 3541(a) also states, The district authorizes that students who are in kindergarten and need to be on take home runs for Los Gatos and Warthan Canyons and all Special Day Class Students shall be entitled to In-Lieu of Transportation Fees. Staff indicated that district did pay parents’ travel expenses for transporting students in lieu of providing bus service in the past, but reported that no students currently qualify for these payments. The district has no formal process providing in-lieu transportation payments to parents. If parents are paid in lieu of transportation service in the future, the district will need to have a contract that delineates responsibilities, indemnifies the district and specifies a reimbursement rate. These payments are usually based on the distance to the closest bus stop from the point on a public road at or nearest to the home’s entrance. The district should not pay for travel on private roads. caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 12 ROUTING The district is not required to pay parents or guardians in lieu of providing school bus transporta- tion; thus, eliminating current services would not necessitate paying parents to transport students to school or to the nearest bus stop. All of the district’s schools in Coalinga are located close together in a central part of town. The elementary school and middle school in Huron are also close to each other. Because of the schools’ close proximity, changing or staggering bell-times is unlikely to increase transportation efficiency. District ridership reports indicate that all bus routes except two have relatively full loads. The exceptions are routes J and K, which serve the Huron area and have approximately 11 students each. These two routes are both nearly one hour long and serve the northern and southern portions of Huron, respectively. Routes J and K could be consolidated, but it would mean a longer bus ride for some students. In its section titled “Riding Time,” the district’s parent hand- book titled Guide to Student Transportation states, “Forty-five to sixty (45-60) minutes, each way, is the approximate riding time for students attending school.” This statement would have to be revised if routes J and K are consolidated. Two routes serve the remote Los Gatos and Warthan canyons in the western portion of the district. Few students live in the canyons and ride the bus. The district could consider elimi- nating service to these two canyons. Students could still ride the bus by getting to the bus stop at the base of each canyon. If the district eliminates this service, it would need to revise its board policy to indicate that service will not be provided in these areas. As noted earlier, transportation is provided from Coalinga High School to the school farm every class period of each school day, and this service has been charged home-to-school transporta- tion rather than to the farm program. The district needs to determine whether these academic programs could be moved to the high school campus to eliminate this costly service. Two bus routes transport students home from after-school activities, and one route transports students from an after-school program. Some school districts have eliminated transportation for after-school activities to reduce costs.. Activity routes are generally considered home-to-school transportation and are not usually invoiced separately. However, the district needs to review how it is charging costs for its after-school program transportation because grant funds are often avail- able to pay for this transportation. Some students from neighboring districts who attend the Coalinga-Huron Joint Unified School District’s schools on interdistrict transfers are driven to bus stops in the district and benefit from its transportation service. There is currently room on the buses for these students; however, students who are granted an interdistrict transfer are not usually guaranteed transportation. The district allows students who reside in the Huron area to choose whether to attend school in Huron or in Coalinga. Some bus routes overlap geographic areas because one bus route may serve students who attend schools in Huron while another may serve students who attend schools in Coalinga. Without detailed demographic data, FCMAT cannot determine whether eliminating this practice would result in additional cost savings. There may be school capacity issues or other academic reasons that make this practice desirable. Coalinga High School starts its school day later on Wednesdays to accommodate teacher plan- ning and collaboration. No other schools in the district have a planning or collaboration time or day. This difference in start times creates additional transportation costs because each bus must travel to its route areas twice: once for the elementary and middle school students, and once for the high school students. This practice doubles bus operating costs on Wednesday morning. To Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 13 ROUTING reduce costs, the district would need to consider aligning all start times by either establishing the high school’s practice at all schools or eliminating the high school’s later Wednesday start time. The district’s office staff produce a bus route information sheet that indicates each bus stop location and time in a standard format. However, detailed route sheets are given to the drivers so that they can type or handwrite specific directions. There is no standard format for these detailed route sheets, and many of them are poorly written and difficult to understand. The district would benefit from having the senior secretary type detailed route sheets in a standard format and include specific directions regarding bus stops at which buses are exempt from using red lights and bus stops at which students must cross the road. These detailed directions could also be completed in TransTraks. When one of the district’s special education student’s Individualized Educational Program (IEP) requires transportation as a related service, the special education department telephones or e-mails the details to the transportation department. It is a best practice for a district to use a form that indicates the student’s start date, program location, home address and disability or medical condition, as well as any special equipment required. A sample form of this type is included in Appendix A. Recommendations The district should: 1. Consider consolidating routes J and K, the two Huron elementary school routes with low ridership. 2. Consider moving the classes now conducted at the school farm to the high school campus to eliminate transportation provided each class period every school day. 3. Consider eliminating transportation home from after-school activities. 4. Consider eliminating service within the two remote western canyons. 5. Consider creating a uniform districtwide school start time on Wednesdays. 6. Create detailed route sheets using a standard format. caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 14 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 15 STAFFING Staffing The transportation department is staffed with the following positions: 1 full time equivalent (FTE) maintenance, operations, transportation director 1 FTE transportation supervisor 1 FTE senior secretary 3 FTE mechanics 14 part-time school bus drivers 6 substitute school bus drivers A transportation operation of this size functioning on a traditional school calendar does not need a senior secretary for twelve months per year. The senior secretary types some route information, schedules field trips, answers telephones, dispatches drivers using the two-way radio, enters employee time into the district’s payroll system, and otherwise supports the department’s clerical needs. Because there is little activity in the department when school is not in session, this posi- tion could be reduced in time. The district operates 22 school buses and 70 other vehicles. For a fleet of this size, 2.5 FTE mechanic positions are adequate. All three of the district’s mechanics also hold a valid school bus driving certificate and drive bus routes when the regular drivers are absent or assigned to field trips. The mechanic whose duties are reduced to 0.5 FTE could be offered the next open four- hour per day bus driving position to restore the position to a total of 1.0 FTE. One permanent bus route is staffed by a substitute school bus driver who is retired. It is not appropriate for a substitute driver to continue filling this position. Because the route is perma- nent, its bus driver duties need to be advertised and filled as a permanent position. In addition, staffing this substitute bus driver position with a California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) retiree exposes both the district and the employee to significant liability. CalPERS allows retirees to work in public service after their retirement but limits them to temporary or substitute assignments and prohibits them from working more than 960 hours per year. Continuing the current practice may result in the employee being required to pay back all retirement earnings and to pay retirement contributions related to the current work. The district may also be required to pay its portion of the employee’s CalPERS retirement contribu- tion retroactive to the beginning of the employee’s employment as a substitute. Penalties may also be levied. Table 2 details the district’s bus drivers’ assignments, showing the hours assigned to the trans- portation department, hours assigned to other departments, and actual bus driving time, which includes pre-trip bus inspections and bus cleaning. Table 2: Coalinga-Huron Joint Unified School District Bus Driver Assignments Route Contract Hours of Driving Contract Hours of Other Work Actual Bus Driving Time A 6 2 (gardening) 3 B 8 6.5 C 6.5 1.5 (custodian) 3.8 D 6 2 (gardening) 3 E 5 3 (gardening) 2.5 F 5 3 (gardening) 4 caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 16 STAFFING G 8 5.6 H 6 4.8 I 8 4.4 J 5.5 2.5 (custodian) 2.75 K 4 4 (gardening) 2.5 L 8 6 M 7 6 N 4 2.75 TOTAL 87 18 57.6 Note: Additional contract hours for bus drivers without a second assignment are intended to be filled by fueling or washing buses. As indicated in Table 2, the district has 14 school bus drivers. Eleven of these drivers are guaran- teed eight hours of work time per day, one is guaranteed seven, one is guaranteed six and one is guaranteed four. The bus drivers work only when school is in session. Drivers spend a total of 57.6 hours per day performing actual bus driving but are paid for a total of 87 hours per day for bus driving and department duty time. This represents an annual total of $74,405 in excess pay for salaries alone if calculated using Step 1 of the district’s classified employee salary schedule. The actual excess cost is much higher because most drivers are higher than Step 1 and because this calculation does not include the employees’ paid benefits. Some of the drivers are expected to wash buses or fuel buses during their non-bus-driving hours; however, the total time allotted to these duties is 29.4 hours per day, or slightly more than 3.5 FTE, which is almost certainly far more than is needed to complete these duties. Nine bus drivers report to Coalinga by 5:45 a.m., board one bus and drive to the Huron bus yard where eight buses are parked and where their routes then begin. Most of those routes return to the Coalinga bus yard at some point during the day, and at the end of the day all buses are parked at Huron and the drivers ride back to the Coalinga yard. Neither the eight drivers nor the employee who drives them to and from Huron are paid for this travel time at the beginning and end of each day. This is an unusual arrangement but has been a longstanding practice. The benefit for the drivers is that they do not have to drive their personal vehicles to and from Huron. The benefit for the district is that it does not have to pay for this time. The district may wish to explore whether there is any potential liability related to this practice. Seven of the district’s 14 drivers also serve the district as gardeners or custodians. The time served in a non-bus-driving classification is paid at the appropriate rate for that classification and is charged to the appropriate budget. Some school districts in California supplement bus driver positions with other positions to ensure full-time employment for these individuals. Because some communities find it very difficult to attract and retain individuals for this low-paying, high responsibility and high stress job, they offer an eight-hour position to make it more desirable. Although this is a relatively common practice, these employees are not always as productive in these combination positions. The gardening, custodial or maintenance duties often suffer, and the district is cautious to disci- pline the employee for this aspect of the job for fear of losing the bus driver. Also, most districts perceive bus driving needs as having greater importance, so when a last-minute trip comes up, the driver is pulled away from their other duties. The ideal arrangement is to not guarantee these Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 17 STAFFING positions but to separate the reporting and duties so that the employee reports to and provides service to the transportation program and separately to another department for the duties of the other clearly designated classification. Because it is not reasonable to pay bus driving wages for a job that requires less skilled labor, fueling and bus washing duties at the transportation facility would be best accomplished by establishing a separate job (perhaps with a new classification) for which employees apply, are hired, and are paid at an appropriate rate. The driver of Route B receives approximately two hours of overtime pay per day. This is not necessary. This driver washes buses or performs other duties in the department during the middle of the day, then earns overtime by driving one of the evening bus routes. This driver could have a schedule with less than eight hours per day if the midday duties were eliminated or assigned to another driver. The district recently purchased TransTraks, a school transportation software suite. Employees in the department are fearful of this technology and do not clearly understand the need for it or its purpose. The district has hired and assigned an individual to enter some daily data into the system, and this individual is also entering or downloading the entire district student database into the program. This is not necessary; only student bus riders should be entered into the system. The bus drivers collect complete data on all student bus riders. This software can become a productive tool, but for this to occur, employees who will use it must understand its practical application and must receive significant training in its use. The software includes modules for vehicle maintenance, student tracking, routing, driver training, and field trips. Each module can record data and generate valuable reports regarding field trip booking and invoicing, driver training and vehicle maintenance. The software can also generate bus routes. District staff indicated that the possibility that bus drivers could enter their daily mileage and student data into the TransTraks program. FCMAT does not believe this would be a best prac- tice. The department would be best served if drivers continue to complete daily written reports and a trained staff member enters them into the program. Similarly, it is not considered best practice for mechanics to enter their work orders in the system; a trained clerical employee can better accomplish this. This arrangement will provide more control over data input and decrease the chances of error. The transportation department’s senior secretary and its supervisor have worked for the district for a number of years and have a great deal of institutional knowledge. Eventually these individ- uals will retire. It is important for the district to complete some succession planning, including establishing a process to record and pass on these employees’ knowledge and information. Recommendations The district should: 1. Reduce the senior secretary position to 10 months per year. 2. Reduce the total mechanic positions by 0.5 FTE and offer the affected indi- vidual part-time bus driving duties to replace the lost 0.5 FTE. 3. Advertise for and hire a permanent bus driver rather than using a retired substitute driver for a regular route. caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 18 STAFFING 4. Consider reducing contracted bus driving hours to match the actual hours spent bus driving, performing pre-trip inspections and cleaning buses. Consider separating job duties and creating separate positions for bus washing and fueling to reduce costs. 5. Study the current practice of unpaid time for bus drivers travelling to and from the Huron bus yard for any potential liabilities. 6. Eliminate the daily overtime pay for the driver of Route B by restructuring responsibilities. 7. Provide employees with training and support in the use of the TransTraks software and identify one primary clerical support individual to manage the program. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 19 VEHICLE MAINTENANCE Vehicle Maintenance The California Highway Patrol (CHP) Motor Carrier Inspector Unit conducts an annual inspec- tion of buses, vehicle maintenance records, driver training records, and federal drug and alcohol training records. The CHP’s report of its findings is entitled the “Terminal Grade.” For the past four years, the district has received the CHP’s highest grade of “satisfactory” on these reports. This is an objective measure of a school transportation operation’s safety and indicates compli- ance with all applicable laws and regulations. Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations, Section 1232 (13 CCR 1232) requires that school buses be inspected every 45 days or 3,000 miles, whichever occurs first. The district lists inspection due dates on a whiteboard posted in the shop and performs the inspections on a 30-day rotation. Mileage intervals are not recorded, so buses that are assigned to high-mileage routes are inspected every fifteen days. Although this practice ensures compliance with the regula- tions, it may increase costs by conducting inspections more frequently than necessary. School bus inspections are recorded and repairs are listed on a work order form; however, labor hours and a list of parts associated with the work order are not always attached or included. In addition, repairs performed by outside contractors are not always included in the file, and in some cases the mechanics do not see the invoices and so do not compare them with the work performed. Repair orders are filed, and the past year’s maintenance documentation is filed and eventually stored elsewhere. The department does not use maintenance data to create any useful manage- ment information. The TransTraks system will allow the department to generate useful reports from this data including information such as fuel mileage, vehicle maintenance history and cost per mile by bus. The district has no discernible preventive maintenance program for its vehicles other than buses. These include maintenance and grounds trucks and vans, and passenger vehicles used to transport small groups of students. Mechanics reported that these vehicles are repaired when a problem is discovered or reported. This practice can be very costly; the lack of regular inspec- tions means that minor maintenance issues can develop into costly repairs or dangerous safety issues. The passenger vans that are transporting students need to be on a preventive maintenance program similar to that used for school buses. Newer school buses and other district vehicles feature computer-controlled engines; however, the district does not have any up-to-date diagnostic equipment, and mechanics have not received training regarding these newer engines, transmissions and components. Consequently, mechanics reported that vehicles are sometimes towed out of town to another shop only to discover that the problem could have been repaired inexpensively if diagnostic capabilities were in place. The district’s shop includes a parts room upstairs. One part of this room is stocked with filters, belts, hoses and some glass. Mechanics reported that these are usually purchased in bulk for a discount and supply the district’s needs for a year or more. A large part of the remainder of this room is stocked with obsolete and unusable parts. Mechanics indicated that these parts may have been for vehicles the district no longer owns. The parts room dirty and generally in disarray. The obsolete parts could be returned to the suppliers for credit, sold to other operators that may need certain parts, or declared surplus and removed. caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 20 VEHICLE MAINTENANCE Mechanics order parts individually from local or specialty suppliers as needed, and they are careful to find the lowest cost suppliers. However, valuable repair time is lost, because mechanics often drive to the local parts store to order or purchase parts. Gasoline and diesel storage is located at both the Huron and Coalinga bus yards. Only diesel is available in the maintenance department yard. The storage tanks are above ground and comply with current laws and regulations. The pumps are controlled by a computerized commercial soft- ware system that requires cards and data input to dispense fuel. Reasonable controls are in place to prevent theft. The software system can print out regular reports, but the transportation depart- ment is not currently using these reports. This system can also be integrated with the upcoming TransTraks system to automatically provide fuel usage data. School districts are exempt from federal excise tax on diesel and gasoline, and from state excise tax on diesel. Some recent fuel invoices indicate that the district is charged the state excise tax on diesel. This district will need to rectify this with its fuel supplier. The district’s vehicle maintenance shop was reportedly built in the 1950’s and is still an excellent shop that would be the envy of any school district. It includes offices, an employee break room, a small kitchen, restrooms, several in-ground vehicle lifts and an interior bus washing room. The shop does need some maintenance and housekeeping. Several other areas of the shop building are no longer used, including a paint booth, an engine rebuilding room and a vehicle alignment pit. Discontinuing use of these facilities is consistent with what has occurred in many school district shops. The environmental rules and equipment needed for vehicle painting are prohibitively complex and expensive; most school districts do not have the volume or expertise to support engine rebuilding; and vehicle alignment equipment is expensive and is a specialty that is usually sublet to other providers. During fieldwork, FCMAT noted that a lift in the steam-cleaning room was leaking hydraulic fluid from a post seal and was unable to hold up a bus up without slowly slipping down. This was a safety hazard and the district has since repaired this lift. It is easier to steam clean buses while they are raised, and this cleaning is needed to perform professional vehicle inspections. Recommendations The district should: 1. Track and schedule preventive maintenance for buses when it is needed rather than on a set calendar rotation. 2. Develop a regular preventive maintenance program for all non-bus vehicles, and ensure that vans that transport students are maintained using the same standards and procedures as those used for school buses. 3. Implement a work order system that assigns labor hours, parts costs and miscellaneous costs to every repair. Develop useful vehicle maintenance reports using this and other data. 4. Clean the shop and the parts storage area. Remove surplus parts and equip- ment that no longer have value for the district. 5. Ensure that it is not being charged state excise tax for diesel fuel. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 21 VEHICLE MAINTENANCE 6. Invest in technology and training for mechanics to enable them to diagnose computer-controlled engines and vehicle components. caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 22 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 23 DRIVER TRAINING AND SAFETY Driver Training and Safety School bus driver training in California is highly regulated. Prospective school bus drivers must receive a minimum of 20 hours of classroom training and 20 hours of behind-the-wheel training (E.C. 40082). In addition, every year school bus drivers must receive a minimum of 10 hours of in-service training. This training can only be conducted by a State Certified School Bus Driver Instructor (E.C. 40084.5). Behind-the-wheel training may be given by a Delegated Behind- the-Wheel Instructor. A record of this training must be made and kept. In addition, school bus drivers must submit to a background check and fingerprinting for licensing and for employment, and drug and alcohol testing in compliance with Federal Department of Transportation (DOT) rules (49 CFR 382). The district’s transportation supervisor is also a State Certified School Bus Driver Instructor and is knowledgeable regarding laws and regulations. Driver training records are kept in compliance with all laws and regulations and are in good order. The department reported a low incidence of bus accidents, and this is reflected in the fact that its bus fleet has few dents or scratches. However, the district does not have a transportation safety plan in place in compliance with E.C. 39831.3. A plan must be in place and available at each school for inspection by a CHP officer. A sample plan is included in appendix B. Education Code section 39831.5 requires school districts to perform school bus emergency evacuation drills annually and keep specific records kept for students in grades K-6. Also, specific safety information must be announced prior to every field trip. The transportation department is aware of these regulations and is in compliance with them. Teachers and coaches drive small groups of students to school events in district-owned passenger vans. This is common throughout the state. The transportation department ensures that each of these teachers or coaches is enrolled in the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) pull notice program, which sends the district reports of each driver’s record annually. The pull notice program also sends a report any time there has been activity on the driver’s record such as an acci- dent, moving violation or other more serious violations, such as a drunk driving conviction or a license suspension or revocation. The transportation department regularly reviews these teachers’ and coaches’ driving records. The district may wish to consider enrolling all of these drivers in a drug and alcohol testing program similar to the program used for school bus drivers. In addition, the transportation department needs to provide defensive driver training for these teachers and coaches. Bus drivers who transport special education students do not receive regular in-service training regarding common medical conditions and behaviors related to certain disabilities, or how to mitigate certain behaviors on the bus. Because of the expertise of the district’s special education department and their knowledge of the students who are transported, the special education department could provide bus drivers with this type of regular in-service training. Recommendations The district should: 1. Provide defensive driver training for all district staff who drive students in district vehicles. caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 24 DRIVER TRAINING AND SAFETY 2. Consider enrolling staff who transport students in district vans in a drug and alcohol testing program similar to that used for school bus drivers. 3. Ensure that the special education department provides regular training for the bus drivers regarding common medical conditions and disabilities and related issues and behaviors. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 25 VEHICLE REPLACEMENT Vehicle Replacement The district has a fleet of 23 school buses ranging from five to 25 years old. The average age of the fleet is 12.5 years. This is a relatively new fleet compared to many California school districts. The oldest two buses are 1986 Crown Coaches. The district has been an active participant in bus replacement grant programs operated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD). The two Crown Coach buses are slated for replacement when new funding is allocated to the programs. In addition, CARB has adopted truck and bus rules intended to reduce diesel particulate exhaust. Although full compliance with these rules is not required until 2018, the district has taken advantage of grant programs from the SJVAPCD to retrofit its buses with diesel particulate filters and is thus in full compliance with the rules. Recommendation The district should: 1. Continue to stay informed and participate in school bus replacement grant programs. caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 26 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 2277 APPENDDRICAEFST Appendices Appendix A Sample Transportation Request Form Appendix B Sample Transportation Safety Plan Appendix C Study Agreement caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 2288 DARPPAEFNTDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 2299 APPENDDRICAEFST Appendix A: Sample Transportation Request Form caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 3300 DARPPAEFNTDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 3311 APPENDDRICAEFST Appendix B Sample Transportation Safety Plan caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 3322 DARPPAEFNTDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 3333 APPENDDRICAEFST caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 3344 DARPPAEFNTDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 3355 APPENDDRICAEFST Appendix C Study Agreement caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 3366 DARPPAEFNTDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 3377 APPENDDRICAEFST caolinga-Huron Joint uniFied scHool district 3388 DARPPAEFNTDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM