Manatee County School District trims buses for charter schools

BRADENTON -- The Manatee County School District may donate 20 buses to Manatee School for the Arts to start its own fleet, if the Manatee County School Board approves the move at an upcoming meeting.

With those buses, MSA will also transport students from Palmetto Charter School and Rowlett Academy for Arts and Communication, decreasing the number of charter school transportation the district provides from five this year to two next year.

For the last two and a half years, the district has been working with charter schools to decrease reliance on district buses and increase efficiency.

"The No. 1 reason is our traditional school students are coming to school late, in some cases, 40 minutes late," Manatee County School District Superintendent Diana Greene said during a workshop Tuesday. "We're trying to get that under control."

The school board took

no action but potential agreements will go before the board at the next meeting.

Under state statute, school districts may provide transportation for charter schools, but are not required to do so. Of 12 district charter schools, two provide no transportation, five provide transportation and five rely on district transportation.

Over the last two and a half years, charter officials and the district were able to work out a number of transportation options.

Just for Girls Academy and State College of Florida Collegiate School will continue to use school district buses, and pay an increased fee next year.

MSA will set up its own transportation system using the 20 school district surplus buses. The buses are up to code and now part of the district fleet.

The district's recent purchase of 12 buses helped make those buses available to the charters, said Jason Harris, district director of transportation.

Even with the buses being given free to the charters, Sandra Dietrich, Manatee School for the Arts chief financial officer, estimated the school will need about $500,000 to finance the creation of a fleet, including a place to house the buses, money to hire drivers and the cost of fuel.

"It's going to take us about half a million dollars just to create the infrastructure that you've already gotten in your facilities now that you paid for with tax dollars that wasn't shared with the charter schools," she said.

School district officials said the move will help eliminate overtime, cut driver shortages, shorten student ride time and help get more students to school on time.

"We're looking at the ability to save the district some money and also provide better service than what transportation currently is providing," Harris said.

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter @MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published February 9, 2016 at 11:12 PM with the headline "Manatee County School District trims buses for charter schools ."