Health & Fitness
Board of Education Saves Dollars by Approving Illinois Central as New Primary Transportation Provider
District 200 anticipates approximately $300k in savings annually through the new transportation contract with Illinois Central.
At the April 10th Board of Education meeting, the board approved Illinois Central as the new, primary transportation provider in District 200.
In Winter 2012/13, District 200 requested bids for transportation services for regular in-district transportation, special education in-district travel, and special education out of district travel. After reviewing bid submissions, District staff recommended to the Board Illinois Central a contract for regular in-district transportation and special education in-district travel. The District will award a new contract to Septran, Inc. to continue providing the District’s special education out of district transportation.
District 200 anticipates approximately $300k in savings annually through the new transportation contract with Illinois Central.
Find out what's happening in Wheatonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
District 200 budgets nearly $8 million annually in student transportation. Since FY08, State transportation categorical funding has plummeted from $4.7 million to $3.6 million in FY13. According to Assistant Superintendent for Business Services, Bill Farley, “At a time when state funding continues to dwindle, reducing costs by $300k annually is a huge savings to the District. We hope that through our new contracts we are able to realize even more efficiencies.”
Currently, the District allocates $4 million of local funding annually to pay for student transportation services. “The state doesn’t allocate funding to fully meet their obligation of student transportation,” says Farley. “The savings realized through the new transportation contract means more local dollars can be reallocated to the classroom.”
Find out what's happening in Wheatonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Current transportation contracts with First Student to provide regular in-district transportation and special education in-district transportation and Septran, Inc. to provide special education out of district transportation are scheduled to expire on June 30, 2013. Starting in the 2013-14 School Year, Illinois Central will begin providing transportation to more than 9,000 of the District’s students. Septran, Inc. provides transportation to approximately 60 students with special needs.
