Budget & Finance

Bus Contracts: The Pros and Cons for School Districts Outsourcing Transportation

By Mark Lieberman — December 11, 2023 1 min read
Buses parked covered with snow
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

School district administrators take a variety of approaches to manage the complicated task of transporting hundreds or thousands of students to schools each day.

Some directly hire transportation experts and drivers to manage and operate buses owned and maintained by the district. Others look to contractors for some or all of their transportation operations. Some bus companies are local mom-and-pop shops, while others are part of multinational conglomerates.

There’s no definitive consensus on the perfect model every district should strive to attain. But decades of experimentation point to some key potential upsides and risks district leaders should bear in mind as they weigh whether to hire a bus company to manage and operate part or all of their operation for student transportation.

For more on this topic, read this article from Education Week: Late Arrivals, Steep Costs: Why Some Districts Ditch Third-Party Bus Companies.

Liz Yap, Designer and Vanessa Solis, Associate Design Director contributed to this article.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI in Education: Empowering Educators to Tap into the Promise and Steer Clear of Peril
Explore the transformative potential of AI in education and learn how to harness its power to improve student outcomes.
Content provided by Panorama Education
English Learners Webinar Family and Community Engagement: Best Practices for English Learners
Strengthening the bond between schools and families is key to the success of English learners. Learn how to enhance family engagement and support student achievement.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Mathematics Webinar
How an Inquiry-Based Approach Transforms Math Learning
Transform math learning with an approach that empowers students to become active, engaged learners.
Content provided by MIND Education

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Budget & Finance Quiz
Quiz Yourself: How Much Do You Know About STEM Funding?
Answer 7 questions about the whole child approach of connecting schools and communities.
Content provided by PLTW
Budget & Finance Don't Forget About Money for Schools: How Public Education Fared at the Polls
Voters approved billions for school construction bonds in California—but rejected more than $4 billion in bond spending in Houston.
5 min read
Photo collage of U.S. currency and stock market trading graph.
Getty
Budget & Finance From Our Research Center The 'Zero-Sum Game' of School Budgets and Teacher Pensions
Pensions represent a rising cost, but many school district administrators don't understand how they work.
5 min read
Illustration of a big fish getting ready to eat a smaller school of fish. All of the fish have a dollar sign on them.
iStock/Getty
Budget & Finance ‘Money Matters. Now What?’: How Districts Get More Funding for Poor Students
Targeting more funding to students who are most in need has a measurable effect on their academic performance, according to new research.
7 min read
Image of a bullseye, darts, and money.
Laura Baker/Education Week with DigitalVision Vectors