PRIVATE BUSES ON WAY? HALTING TRANSPORT FOR SOME BEING CONSIDERED BY DISTRICT.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - The Eastside Union School District will ask private firms to submit bids to provide school bus service, a move opposed by district employees, but has not decided whether to award a contract.

Ending the district-run bus service would help save the district about $125,000 and whittle down a $750,000 shortfall projected for next school year.

``This is a major area we believe we can cut because transportation is an encroachment on the general fund. We are not fully funded for transportation,'' Superintendent Connie Webb said. ``It's taking $240,000 out of the general fund to keep it going.''

The board voted unanimously at Monday's meeting to seek bids for transportation services in order to obtain exact cost figures. Using a private company could save the district between $90,000 and $200,000, district officials said.

Webb did not know when the board would make a final decision on the bus service, saying part of the issue depends on what funding the state provides to school districts for a cost-of-living increase.

``Maybe the governor will give us more, or less,'' Webb said.

Officials from the union that represents the district's 22 bus drivers and mechanics presented a plan for saving $125,000, which included eliminating several bus routes, Webb said.

District officials in February said they were expecting a $750,000 shortfall next year and have since decided on cost-cutting measures that have whittled that figure down to $217,000.

The Eastside Elementary School vice principal position was cut from full time to part time, and two teaching positions will not be filled next year, Webb said.

The district also will use state lottery money instead of general fund money to purchase school supplies, and will reimburse its building fund $200,000 from the school construction bond measure passed in 1997.

Without cutting the $750,000, the district's reserve would be at 1.5 percent. State law mandates a minimum reserve of 3 percent of the operating budget.

The other option would be to keep the district's bus service but increase the distance from schools inside which no bus transportation would be provided, and combine two transportation management jobs. That move would save $125,000.

Currently, bus transportation is offered to kindergartners through third- graders who live more than three-quarters of a mile from school. The distance for fourth- through eighth-graders is one mile.

The proposal would eliminate bus transportation for middle-schoolers who live within two miles of school, and for students in grades K-5 who live within a mile of school, officials said.

Parents at Monday's meeting raised concerns about increasing the walking distances, the same concerns as expressed by the district, Webb said.

Parents talked about Eastside being a rural area with no sidewalks, about the plan hurting attendance, and bringing more parents' cars into already crowded drop-off and pick-up areas, Webb said.

Another idea being considered is eliminating midday bus service and switching to all-day kindergarten, Webb said.

But that move would leave two fewer classrooms at each of the elementary schools to handle potential growth. The district's next school, Tierra Bonita North temporary campus, is two years away from opening and there is the possibility of new housing construction occurring.

Webb said a 42-home development is planned at 27th Street East and Avenue J-8. Another potential development is a 102-home housing tract planned off Avenue K between 32nd and 35th streets east, Webb said.

``The map is on the verge of being recorded. They have up to five years to develop it,'' Webb said.

Eastside has operated its own school bus service for about 13 years and employs 20 bus drivers and two mechanics, union officials said. The district transports about 1,500 students daily.

About 30 to 40 employees and parents protested at the previous board meeting against contracting with an outside company. They said their children would not know their bus drivers and that such firms do not have stellar safety records.