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Review: District bus plan lacking

An independent study finds that Hillsborough needs a better effective system and more drivers.

By LETITIA STEIN
Published June 14, 2006

Outside experts looked critically at school start times that fail to maximize resources. They questioned the sense of having middle and elementary school students traveling to adjacent campuses riding separate buses.

Hillsborough school officials commissioned the review by the Council of the Great City Schools, a consortium of large urban school systems. They also received a second report identifying concerns with the district's purchasing practices.

"We knew that we had some things that needed to be looked at," superintendent MaryEllen Elia said. "We're moving very quickly to get outside experts to help us to implement the recommendations."

School Board members had little to say Tuesday night about the findings and recommendations, which were added late to their meeting agenda.

Administrators said they weren't surprised. Transportation has been studied internally. The district's business chief said it didn't have strong policies in place before adopting a new computer system for payroll and purchases in recent years.

"It basically validates some of the things we've been saying all along," said assistant superintendent Lewis Brinson.

In the transportation report, reviewers found "no sense of urgency" to resolve the driver shortage. They questioned the assumption that students with disabilities need separate buses.

Reviewers said the practice costs money and unnecessarily segregates students.

Brinson said the district is looking into a recommendation to stagger more start times.

He had doubts about another recommendation to eliminate "courtesy" transportation for students living within 2 miles of a school, unless safety concerns exist.

The report suggested that school officials improve efficiency of transportation for school choice and magnet programs. More money may need to be spent or reallocated for transportation, it said.

Chief of staff Jim Hamilton questioned that.

"We can still have magnets and choice without spending more transporting kids than we do educating them," he said.

The transportation report praised some of the district's practices: Buses are inspected every 30 days. Fenced yards deter bus vandalism.

In looking at purchasing practices, reviewers observed that school officials have struggled to balance innovation with authority and control.

Reviewers criticized a controlling culture characterized by poor internal and external communication. In some cases, they also questioned a lack of accountability.

One criticism: The district has no policies to deal with fiscally irresponsible practices by staff members. Without citing specifics, the report noted the following examples as cause for concern:

n Purchases of more than $25,000 are being made without authorization by the purchasing department or School Board knowledge or approval.

n No internal process exists to prevent staff members from splitting orders on purpose to avoid the competitive bidding process.

Chief business officer Gretchen Saunders was not aware of all of the specific situations referenced. The district was not wasting money, she said, but knew it needed to make improvements.

"We need to follow up on bids, make sure the bids are in place for almost everything," she said.

She liked a recommendation to give school principals authority to buy small items with purchasing or credit cards.

To improve communication, she said, the district is moving workers with related jobs closer to one another.

School officials expected to talk more about the findings after reviewing them. The district budgeted about $30,000 for the reports. Board members are looking to them for direction.

"I want to be sure that we're doing the best we can," School Board member Candy Olson said. "I just want something to look at: Here's what you want to look at in terms of being more effective."

In other discussions, School Board members earlier Tuesday looked at a plan to offer top teachers cash rewards. Florida lawmakers set aside money to recognize the top 25 percent of teachers with rewards of at least 5 percent of salary.

The plan, called Special Teachers Are Rewarded, replaces Hillsborough's existing pay rewards for high-performing teachers. District officials are retooling the program to meet state requirements. Ultimately, state education officials must sign off.

If the plan is approved, Hillsborough expects to receive $10.8-million from the state for performance pay in the coming school year.

Letitia Stein can be reached at lstein@sptimes.com or 813 226-3400.

[Last modified June 14, 2006, 05:33:16]