Pupil TransportationFunding

Derek Graham, Section Chief

Transportation Services

North Carolina Dept. of Public Instruction

Allotments for School Transportation

• NC Department of Public Instruction, Division of School Support, Transportation Services

• Charged with equitably distributing funds to 117 LEAs for operation of a safe, efficient school bus transportation system

• Separate appropriation for replacing school buses

Pupil Transportation Funding: A Little History

• Property and Cost Clerks– Allotted for 12 months based on a formula considering

the number of buses

• Mechanics, Directors, Supervisors and Foremen– Allotted for 12 months based on a formula considering

the number of buses

• Contracts: Reimbursed for actual expenses• Fuel, tires,parts, etc. reimbursed for actual

expenses

1989 Legislative Action

• SB 44, Sec. 55• “The Department of Public Instruction shall implement the Pupil

Transportation Operational Study authorized by Section 94 of Chapter 1086 of the 1987 Session Laws, The State Board of Education shall allocate up to $400,000 of the funds appropriated for the 1989-90 fiscal year for aid to local school administrative units for pupil transportation to implement the findings of this study. The Department shall also report its final recommendations for achieving improved efficiency and economy in the pupil transportation system to the 1990 Session of the General Assembly. These recommendations shlal included incentives for encouraging cost-effective operations in local school administrative units, as provided in GS 115C-240(e) and GS 115C-246(a).

Ernst & Young Study Results - Jan. 1991

• Allot funds in a way that will provide incentives for the LEAs to provide pupil transportation service as efficiently as possible.

• Structure the funding process to maximize the LEAs’ discretion in deciding how pupil transportation objectives are to be met and to hold them accountable for the results of those decisions relative to meeting the dual objectives of service quality and economy.

• Provide information that helps each LEA to identify the source of any inefficiencies.

Accountability

• Block Grant Allotments:Eliminated Line Item Allotments – Fuel

– Salaries

– Tires/Repair Parts

• Flexibility to Use Funds where needed

• Block Grant based on a Budget Rating– Expenditures

– Students Transported

– Buses Operated

• Budget Rating is an indication of Efficiency

Local Control

# Buses Operated

10,000

10,500

11,000

11,500

12,000

12,500

13,000

13,500

Trend Line

890 Buses Sav ed

Miles Traveled per ADM

-

20.00

40.00

60.00

80.00

100.00

120.00

140.00

224,000,000Miles Saved Over 10 Years

Trend Line

Transportation Funding:Step by Step

1. Determine Funding Base

2. Determine Budget Rating

3. Multiply (1) x (2) and Adjust

Step 1: Determine Funding Base(Previous Years’ Eligible Expenditures)

• All State Expenditures except for equipment line items

• All Local Expenditures corresponding to a state object code, except equipment

• Exceptions:– Salaries in excess of the state maximum

– Salary bonuses

• All State Expenditures except for equipment line items

• All Local Expenditures corresponding to a state object code, except equipment

• Legislative appropriation assumes allotment growth consistent with enrollment growth plus legislated increased (salary increases, etc)

• A few counties are capped each year due to expenses that increased beyond these projections

Capped Expenses

• Does not count “against” the LEA in the calculation of budget ratings.

• Does not get included in the funding base carried forward to the next year.

Step 2: Determine Budget Rating

• Inputs: Expenditures, Students Transported, Buses Operated

• Adjustments for Site Characteristics– Avg. Distance from School; Street Network

– Pupil Density; Student Clustering

– Median Family Income; Seats per Bus

Step 3: Apply Rating to Base Funding and Adjust

• Multiply Budget Rating By Base Funding (Step 1).

• Add funding for (positive) growth in students transported

• Adjust for Legislated Increases

Determining the Ratings

• Calculate the cost per student transported for each county

• Calculate the # buses operated per 100 students transported for each county

• Use Linear Regression to make sure that there is nothing beyond the county’s control that unfairly penalizes them: Site Characteristics

Factor Efficiencies - Step 1

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Buses per 100 Adjusted Students

Exp

end

itu

res

per

Ad

just

ed S

tud

ent

A

O

Cost Eff = XL / XA

Y M

L

X

Bus Eff = YM / YA

Combined Eff = AVG(Bus Eff, Cost Eff)

Factor Efficiencies - Step 2

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Buses per 100 Adjusted Students

Exp

end

itu

res

per

Ad

just

ed S

tud

ent

O

•A

B

CD

Overall EfficiencyA =

Combined EfficiencyA

Average Combined EfficienciesF

(F=Frontier Points)

Leveling the Playing Field: Consider Site Characteristics

Beyond the Control of the LEA

• Pupil Density (Students Transported per Mile of Road

• Distance of Students to School• Circuity• % EC Students

Unadjusted Bus EfficiencyBuses - 3rd Quartile Distance to School

R2 = 0.3781

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Unadjuested Bus Efficiency

3rd

Qu

art.

Dis

t.

3Quart Dist

Linear (3Quart Dist)

Bus Efficiency Adjusted for Distance to School 3rd Quartile

Bus Efficiency Adjusted for Distance 3rd Quartile

R2 = 3E-05

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

0 20 40 60 80 100

Bus Efficiency

Dis

tna

ce

to

Sc

ho

ol

3rd

Qu

art

ile

3Quart Dist

Linear (3Quart Dist)

Site Characteristics

CMS Wake Brunswick StateAverage

Pupil Density 22.2students perroad mile

17.1students perroad mile

5.4students per roadmile

6.2students per roadmile

Avg Distanceto School

4.2 miles 4.5 miles 7.8 miles 5.27 miles

% ECtransportation

2.21% 3.19% 0.97% 1.99%

Circuity(ratio of actualto crow-flight)

1.23 1.47 2.68 1.42

Pupil TransportationFunding

Derek Graham, Section Chief

Transportation Services

North Carolina Dept. of Public Instruction