Budget Amendment ID: FY2025-S4-835-R1

Redraft OTH 835

Controlling School Transportation Costs

Messrs. Durant, Tarr and O'Connor moved that the proposed new text be amended by inserting after section 106 the following section:-

"SECTION 106A. The department of elementary and secondary education, in consultation with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the operational services division and the executive office for administration and finance, shall study: (i) the impact on cost of consolidation of transportation providers of  public school students; (ii) the feasibility and cost of establishing and maintaining a rate setting process for the transportation of public school students through contracts with private providers; (iii) the possibility of establishing a statewide registry of school transportation vendors; (iv) the feasibility of authorizing purchasing collaboratives for public school transportation; (v) rate setting systems used in other states and the potential applicability of such systems in the commonwealth; and (vi) the infrastructure necessary to develop, implement and maintain any such rate setting process, registry and collaboratives.

The department shall file a report of its findings and any related recommendations to the clerks of the senate and house of representatives, the joint committee on education and the joint committee on transportation not later than March 31, 2025 and shall make the report publicly available in an accessible format on the department's website.”.