HUNTINGTON BEACH : District Bus Cost Rises Dramatically

New buses needed to accommodate the Ocean View School District’s expanded busing program next year will cost the district one-third more than projected, officials said.

The school district expects to spend about $940,000 for 13 buses, rather than the $694,000 estimate made last spring, said Jim Jones, Ocean View’s assistant superintendent for business services.

One reason for the increased projection is the cost of each bus has gone to $72,300 from $69,400, Jones said.

Additionally, the school district had planned to buy 10 buses and lease four others from the Huntington Beach Union High School District. Jones said the district now expects that it will need only 13 buses but may not lease any of the high school district’s buses.

Leasing the buses would cost Ocean View $10,000 a year. But those spare buses are all about 25 years old and may need extensive repairs, so the district may opt to buy a new fleet instead, Jones said.

The money will come from the district’s special reserve account, which is mainly revenue from the sale of district properties. The school board is scheduled to decide how many buses to buy at its Dec. 10 meeting.

The buses are needed to accommodate shifts in students under Ocean View’s new middle school and desegregation plan, expected to increase busing fivefold districtwide when it goes into effect next September. Because the buses will be used partly for integration efforts, the school district may be able to recover some costs from state desegregation funds, Jones said.

Trustees and other proponents say the grade-level reorganization, including the conversion of four schools to middle schools for grades five through eight, will improve educational programs by maximizing resources in the face of declining enrollment.

Parents who have long criticized the reorganization plan pointed to the inflated bus costs as an example of their claim that the plan will cost too much.

The projected cost of the buses “is enough money to hire 23 to 25 teachers in the middle of the pay scale,” parent Gordon Busch told trustees. “Do you really believe that your planned expenditure of $900,000, which does not allow for the addition of a single classroom teacher, can yield the same educational benefits (as) hiring 25 more teachers? I think not.”

In response, Trustee Carolyn Hunt noted that the district’s bus fleet is aging and that trustees in June committed themselves to the reorganization plan and must follow through with it.