That driver you describe sounds exactly like the kind of driver that any company would be glad to hire.

It's not one driver that I'm talking about. Many of the drivers seem to have this attitude.

I don't doubt that at all and I certainly do not want any employee of this mismanaged system to suffer due to the incompetence of the school board and superintendent.

It would be my belief and my hope that any company that took over the transportation contract would hire the existing drivers at least initially.

Again, I really don't know and I admit that. What I do know is that the mismanagement and lack of foresight have all of the employees in a difficult situation through no fault of their own.

The only problem I have with Sniffles research (and it is wonderful) is that we need to remember we are comparing relatively inefficient organizations to each other (or so I assume). It would be interesting to see some statistics showing how a privatized transportation system compared to the standard county government system.

Somehow I think Sniffles may have that information somewhere too!

But you don't seem to be reading this entire thread. Sniffles quotes Chatham county's outsourced cost is $250. That was 2007. But if you read below you see that in 2008 fc1989's numbers show that those numbers jumped to $606 per student. This is not uncommon in outsourcing. The great savings vanish either by loss of service and quality or a price increase. Fayette Counties cost went from $360 to $385. Below State average in both years, while still adhering to the 1/2 mile pickup rule. I think you are guilty of guilt by association. If the FCBOE has control it must be a poorly run department. Can improvements be made. Sure. But to advocate giving away control of something so needed by our children without knowing, (You admitting not knowing in your own post), is no better than what you accuse the FCBOE of doing.

The problem with making kids walk to school is that there are no sidewalks, with the maniacs and the me first people driving on our streets the carnage would be unbelievable. So yeah, I guess the public would be outraged.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

My point was to ask if the comparison of transportation per student cost in FC to Muscogee was an apples to apples comparison since Fayette county kids are coddled to the point that if the bus doesn't pull up to their door the parents either threaten a law suit or break down and drive them to school. You are correct that outside of PTC we do not design walking friendly communities although it is somewhat better recently in Fayetteville and some of the newer S/D's. My guess (and only a guess) is that in Muscogee and Chatham their are more kids on each bus and therefore lower per student cost for a few possible reasons, route planning, social economic differences (more kids in this demographic have no other transportation choice) and making the riders walk closer to the state limit.

Two questions for you, do you have any kids in school that ride the bus? What new subdivisions in Fayetteville have sidewalks that run to the schools. My kid has rode the bus for years and the bus does not even enter my subdivision, the kids have to walk to the entrance to catch it, so where is the coddling? the only way to lower the milage for the buses is to make the kids walk to school and that isn't possible without a sidewalk. So point that.

I yam what I yam....Popeye?

My kids were only coddled til they got old enough to drive. Since our children's bus had discipline problems that did not get fixed, we car pooled with neighbors when they were young.

I am not talking about them walking all the way to school, but in my subdivision the kids get picked up at most 1/4 mile from their door. If the bus stopped at the s/d entrance the longest walk would be one mile compared to the state maximum (which is what the state is funding) of 1.5 miles. I have noticed in the past on my way to work in Clayton County that if I get behind a school bus on McDonough Rd or Tara Rd the school bus stops on the main road at the s/d entrance picking up 10 ot 15 kids. Our school buses go into the s/d and pick up 2 or 4 kids at a time at each stop.

I realize that each bus route is different but I am making this comment based on what I have seen in action.

Also, see my comment below on trans cost per student. FCPS is doing somewhat better than other systems. Not there is not room for improvement but is it do to inefficiency or mode of operations. We have been paying more in Fayette to get better (so the story goes). Safer more convenient transportation has been a part of that story, but it cost money too.

The board should look at what other systems are doing and implement best practices (the new paradigm shift). I think however, that most of the parents will not be happy with the changes necessary.

You raise an excellent point, fc1989. I did not factor in the Fayette 1/2 mile factor. (I thought they did away with that in 2003, I was wrong, they went from 1/3 to 1/2 mile).

I'd still like to see a formal cost-benefit analysis for outsourcing the bus system. My gut feel is that there could be some non-trivial savings there.

Below from the GA DOE website is the transportation cost for the above mentioned systems as well as the state as a whole.

http://app3.doe.k12.ga.us/ows-bin/owa/fin_pack_expenditure.display_summary?p_system_id=*&p_fiscal_year=2008&p_order=15&prev_order=asc

System Name FTE Trans Exp. Per FTE
Fayette County 22,248 8,566,012.89 385.02
Muscogee County 31,901 10,417,381.45 326.55
Chatham County 32,747 19,845,037.12 606.01
State Total 1,617,162 705,102,994.96 436.01

To be fair I think we should look at the most recent data. You never explained why you use 2007 money. These numbers are the numbers that are reported to the state by each district and include all expenditures. If outsourcing is viable we should talk to Muscogee to find out why it increased so drastically in 2008. According to your calculations FC cost went down when other were going up.

Also from the GA DOE numbers you can see Fayette's rank by function area and how they compare to the state average cost for that area:

Function Rank
Instruction 137th, more than state average
Gen Admin 71th, less than state average
Staff Supp. 58th, less than state average
Transportation 57th, less than state average
School Admin 120th, more than state average
Maint/Operations 102nd, at state average
Pupil Services 34th, less than state average
Total 58th, more than state average

What this shows is that compared to other systems in the state we are spending more per student in instruction and school admin. That means teachers and school staff. It is unfortunate but if other systems and the state average mean anything then the board needs to review those areas closely. It seems that in most of the other areas either FCPS is doing well or the rest of the state is terrible. Probably some of both. The GA DOE web page explains what each of these functions represents.

Sorry for the numbers running together. I am not versed in html.

I grew up in the mid-west and used to walk a little over a mile to school every day. Sidewalks the whole way. (fully equiped with snow)I moved here in the 8th grade, haven't seen a sidewalk since.

I shacked up with a man before I was married. His name was Jesus.

PinchedNerve...we moved here from the west, where there are an abundance of sidewalks everywhere for people to use. So, I think the lack of sidewalks is another one of those "southern" traditions, like pageants and nepotism.

Our idiot Remax realtor told us that the only sidewalks are usually in the black neighborhoods because they don't have cars to get around .... and then he told us some stupid racist joke that during hurricanes the "escape route" signs are turned around in these same neighborhoods to point towards the coast, instead of away. Hopefully, this scumbag is out of business by now - jerk.

Refusing to adhere to the fundamental driving creed that slower traffic merge to the right. There also seems to be a steadfast determination to only look forward while slowly driving in the left lane, too.

This ReMax cretin ... fat dude with a funny last name?

fat dude, yes... wears a rug (me thinks)... mostly works at Summergrove in "eat a cow" county... oh, and he doesn't like strong-willed, opinionated women... females should shut-up, look perty and stay in the kitchen, or bedroom.