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player ready...Glenbrook parents whose children take the school bus will have to dig deeper for the service when they register for the next academic year.
Glenbrook High School District 225’s Board of Education unanimously approved on Monday a 3.7 percent hike in student transportation fees for the 2015-16 school year – the first hike since 2010, officials said.
The new rates, promoted partly by the need for three additional buses next year for Glenbrook South, will help narrow the district’s projected transportation cost deficit for next year from about $54,000, had fees not been raised, to an estimated $30,566, officials said.
The new rates are $700 for registrations between April 6 and June 5, an increase of $25, and $830 for registrations after that date, an increase of $30.
The 50 percent discount for sibling riders and $25 discount for online registrations both remain in place.
Seats will be offered after June 5 on a “space-available” basis based on existing bus routes and stops, officials said, adding that no new routes will be added after that date.
According to a memo from Assistant Superintendent for Business Hillarie Siena, 983 students are projected to take buses next year – 259 to Glenbrook North and 724 to Glenbrook South – an estimated overall increase of 60 students from the current school year.
This year, 260 students take a school bus to Glenbrook North while 725 ride a bus to Glenbrook South, officials said.
Since transportation costs are related to student enrollment, the district would have to hike the transportation fee by 7 percent to be truly “cost-neutral,” Siena said in her memo.
At the other extreme, “holding transportation fees at current levels results in an operating deficit of approximately $54(,000),” she wrote.
The board had held the transportation fee at $675 since 2010 because the district could operate the service at “close to breaking even,” said Kimberly Ptak, director of operations and purchasing.
The projected deficit basically forced the district’s hand, she added.
Another factor behind the fee increase is that 2015-16 will be the last school year of the district’s contract with First Student; a new “request for proposals” for student transportation will be issued this fall for the 2016-17 academic year, Ptak said.
Given that pending contract re-bid, board members at their Jan. 26 meeting weren’t sure whether to raise fees in 2015-16 at all, but decided a small, incremental increase now was a better option than risking a growing operating deficit concurrent with a new contract, Ptak said.
“That way, if they have to do another increase in the next year, it won’t be such a big increase,” she said. “But that will all be based on what the new contract is.”
Historically, the transportation fee rose from $475 in 2004 to $675 in 2010, according to district data. The sibling discount was approved for the 2010-11 fiscal year.