LAKE COUNTY — A study on the possible consolidation of the transportation departments of all county school districts by the Lake County Office of Education (COE) is being provided to each school district board for consideration.
The plan was prepared by School Services of California (SSC). Michelle Huntoon, an Associate Vice President and CPA at SSC, led the project with Bud Bankston and Tom Carroll serving as transportation experts/consultants.
Wally Holbrook, County Superintendent of Schools, said transportation issues first arose at a consolidation task force meeting approximately two years ago. Holbrook said it was decided last year to conduct a study on the feasibility of consolidated transportation services.
The study details three consolidation plans for the county school district transportation departments. Two options would create a single lead educational agency (LEA) in charge of transportation for all the county school districts. A third option would see two LEAs with one situated in the north part of the county and one in the south county.
The two single LEA options would have Kelseyville Unified School District (USD) in charge of all transportation and maintenance options throughout the county. Holbrook said the study determined this based on the district”s centralized location and because the district has the largest bus maintenance facility in the county.
One of these two options would have Kelseyville USD solely in charge of all the operations while the second option would set up a Joint Powers Agency between all the school districts with Kelseyville USD serving as the lead LEA.
The third option would set up north county and south county LEAs. Upper Lake Union High School District (UHSD) would serve as the north LEA for Upper Lake UHSD, Upper Lake Elementary School District and Lucerne Elementary School District. Kelseyville would serve as the south LEA for Kelseyville USD, Lakeport USD, Konocti USD and Middletown USD.
The study focused on cost savings. The single LEA options would save county school districts an estimated combined total of $913,895 per each option. The dual LEA option would save the districts an estimated combined total of $752,710. The estimated savings were based on the reduction and sale of school buses, reduced insurance costs and reduced personnel numbers.
The single LEA options would reduce the number of school buses in the county from 74 to 50. The dual LEA option would reduce the number of county school buses from 74 to 51 (reducing bus numbers from 64 to 44 in the south and from 10 to seven in the north).
The dual LEA option and the single LEA option with Kelseyville solely in charge would require a Multilateral Interagency Agreement between all the districts.
The Joint Powers Agency option would set up a separate legal entity for all county school district transportation. A legal agreement would need to be created, as well as a governing board made up of the member districts, complete in-house administrative and management organizations that would control its budget and a director would need to be selected.
Holbrook said the COE is in the process of providing the transportation study to all the district school boards this month to give the districts and their superintendents” direction on where to go. He said once the districts have responded with some direction, the COE will gauge a response on where to go with the plan(s) from there.
He said thus far, Kelseyville USD has expressed interest in the JPA plan. The COE is serving as a facilitator, leaving it up to the districts to determine what plan will be implemented, he said.
Holbrook said the earliest the COE will have an idea of where things are going with implementing a transportation plan will be in January. He estimated it will take approximately two years to fully coordinate the agreed-upon plan. Issues such as enacting a countywide school calendar and a multi-tiered bell schedule, where schools would start at staggered times to maximize each bus route, would have to be worked out well ahead of implementation.
Holbrook said there is a possibility the COE might look into consolidating other school district issues around the county such as food services and maintenance/operations.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14.
