Ohio Association of Public School Employees

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL

EMPLOYEES/AFL-CIO
Cleveland/Canton Field Office
3380 Brecksville Road, Richfield Ohio 44286
(330) 659- 7335
(855) 607-6554

Joseph P. Rugola
Executive Director

OAPSE
OHIO ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL
EMPLOYEES
In light of Madison Local School Districts issuance of a request for qualifications (RFQ) for
student transportation services, RFQ number 2014-001, the Ohio Association of Public School
Employees (OAPSE/AFSCME Local 4) hereby submits its proposal for the Madison Local
School District to directly operate student transportation in cooperation with the Ohio
Association of Public School Employees and its members, for financial savings and an
improvement in service.
In the years since the current contractor, Community Bus Service, has taken over student
transportation, annual costs have increased on a regular basis even as the number of students and
bus routes decreased from when OAPSE members last provided the service in 2008. This
proposal shows that the school district can save nearly $240,000 annually by returning the work
in-house. Whats more, by creating secure, living-wage jobs in the community, the school
district will be able to attract and retain quality, long-term employees. This results in a superior
transportation service and stands in sharp contrast to the high turnover and churn of unfamiliar
faces under the current, contracted service.
As noted above, this is a proposal for the Madison Local School District to return to direct
operation of student transportation service and not a statement of qualifications from a
respondent company offering to provide the service for a fee. As such, the respondent
requirements listed under the RFQ, including a license to operate a school bus service and proof
of insurability, do not apply at a corporate level. Of course, all personnel employed by the school
district to operate student transportation will meet state and federal legal requirements as well as
the districts own standards.

Returning student transportation service to Madison Local School District offers a genuine
opportunity to save the school district money, improve transportation services to our kids and
families, and create good jobs in our community. OAPSE stands ready to work cooperatively
with the district to make this a reality.

Madison Local School District

Student Transportation Insourcing Proposal
OAPSE / AFSCME Local 4
October 10, 2014
OAPSE proposes to return Madison Local School District student transportation to district-operated
service in the 2015-16 school year to save the school district nearly $240,000 per year. This proposal
details all aspects of returning student transportation service to district operation, including:

Staffing the operation to cover all current bus routes;

Paying drivers and assistants at current collectively bargained levels;
Employing a supervisor and secretary for administrative duties;
Providing substitute driver hours;
Providing full benefits to all bargaining unit and non-bargaining unit regular employees; and
Accounting for other costs associated with district operation.

Just as important, returning to in-house drivers and assistants will provide Madison students and
families with better service by attracting and retaining quality, long-term employees through better
compensation and by reducing turnover.

Routes and Staffing

The school district currently operates 31 bus routes, which includes four special-education routes.1 This
requires 31 drivers and four bus assistants for special-education students. (Substitute driver hours are
included in Wages and Hours, below.)
In addition to the published routes above, certain students are provided transportation on an individual
basis. District records indicate that in the 2013-14 school year, the school district contracted with Re-Ed
Transportation for individual services for four students, at an aggregate full school year cost of $40,548.
The district indicates it also has contracted with Elite Fleet for individual services for up to two students.
These costs are excluded from both the unions proposal and the cost of CBSs contract.

Wages and Hours

OAPSE proposes to use the wage schedule in the Local 238 collective bargaining agreement to set driver
and assistant wages. This proposal assumes that three-quarters of drivers and assistants will come in at
the entry rates of $16.30 per hour for drivers and $10.25 for assistants, and one-quarter will be paid at
the step closest to the midpoints of $19.99 and $13.04 per hour, respectively. Under this assumption,
weighted average wages are $17.22 per hour for drivers and $10.95 per hour for assistants.

Madison Local School District, RFQ Information Session Questions and Answers Submitted by October 6, 2014.

Substitute driver hours are assumed to total five percent of driver hours, the same as in school year
2007-08.2 For the purposes of this proposal, substitute drivers hourly wages are assumed to be equal to
regular driver wages.
The number of daily hours is based on the 2007-08 school year, when drivers worked an average of 6.28
hours per day and assistants worked an average of 5.55 hours per day. There are 186 work days in the
school year. Table 1, below, shows individual and total payroll for drivers, assistants and substitutes
based on the number of employees, wages, hours and days. Total annual payroll will be $623,163 for 31
drivers, $45,213 for four bus assistants and $31,158 for substitute driver hours.
Table 1. Driver and Assistant Hours and Wages
Drivers Assistants Substitutes
Employees
31
4
Daily Hours
6.28
5.55
Work Days
186
186
Total Annual Hours 36,182
4,129
1,809
Average Wage
$17.22
$10.95
$17.22
Annual Payroll
623,163
45,213
31,158

Supervisor and Secretary Salaries

This proposal provides one supervisor and a secretary to manage the administrative needs of insourced
student transportation. When the school district last performed this service in-house, in 2007-08, it paid
approximately $45,000 for a supervisor and $19,118 for a secretary. Adjusting these figures for inflation,
as shown in Table 2, below, results in an estimated $50,500 salary for a supervisor and $21,250 for a
secretary.
Table 2. Supervisor and Secretary Salaries Adjusted for Inflation
2007-08
Inflation
Inflation-Adjusted
2015-16 Salary
Salary
2008-2015
Salary
Estimate
$50,335
$50,500
Supervisor
$45,306
11.1%
21,240
21,250
Secretary
19,118
11.1%
Sources: Madison T-2 Reports; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Moodys Analytics.

Benefits and Total Compensation

Medical benefit and payroll-based required payment costs are shown in Table 3, on the next page, and
consist of the following:

Medical benefits cost an average of $10,391 per employee when coverage options are taken
into account. In the current fiscal year, Plan B family coverage costs the employer $13,593,

Madison Local School District T-2 Transportation Cost Analysis Report, Fiscal Year 2007-2008.

single coverage costs $5,343 and employees waiving coverage receive a $1,250 stipend. In 200708, 72 percent of transportation employees chose family coverage, 6 percent chose single
coverage and 22 percent waived coverage. Applying these same coverage selection percentages
produces this weighted average cost per employee;
Life insurance costs $3.60 per employee per month;
Medicare is 1.45 percent of payroll;
The SERS employer contribution is 14 percent of payroll;
The SERS surcharge is 14 percent of the difference between an employees annual pay and the
SERS minimum of $20,450 (see additional detail below in Table 4); and
Workers Compensation is 1.5 percent of payroll.

Table 3. Benefit Costs

Total Payroll
Medical Benefits
Life Insurance
Medicare
SERS Employer Contribution
SERS Surcharge
Workers' Compensation
Total Compensation

Drivers
Assistants Substitutes Supervisor Secretary
Total
$623,163
$45,213
$31,158
$50,500
$21,250 $771,284
322,136
41,566
0
10,391
10,391
384,485
1,339
173
0
43
43
1,598
9,036
656
452
732
308
11,184
87,243
6,330
4,362
7,070
2,975
107,980
1,510
5,122
1,454
0
0
8,086
9,347
678
467
758
319
11,569
1,053,775
99,737
37,894
69,494
35,287 1,296,187

SERS imposes a surcharge on employers for lower-paid members. The surcharge is 14 percent of the
difference between the members annual pay and the minimum threshold of $20,450. Madison Local
School District will pay significantly less in SERS surcharges than CBS, because district drivers and
assistants on average will earn salaries closer to the SERS minimum. As shown in Table 4, below, this
proposal estimates the school district will pay a surcharge of $1,510 for all drivers, $5,122 for all
assistants and $1,454 for substitute driver salaries (prorated for an estimated 60 work days). This
produces a total SERS surcharge of $8,086.
Table 4. SERS Surcharge Calculation
Drivers Assistants Substitutes Total
Employees
31
4
Annual Payroll
$623,163
$45,213
$31,158
Average Annual Pay
20,102
11,303
SERS Surcharge threshold
20,450
20,450
Pay below SERS Surcharge threshold
348
9,147
31,158
14% of payroll below threshold
49
1,281
4,362
Subtotal
1,510
5,122
4,362
Substitutes prorated 60 of 180 days
33%
Total Surcharge
1,510
5,122
1,454 $8,086
5

Other Costs
The school district would be responsible for certain costs under insourced bus service. These include:

Criminal background checks, which are required once every six years. The cost of a complete
state and federal criminal records check is $65.3 The maximum cost Madison Local School
District could incur if all 38 new staff required a new background check would be $2,405.
Pre-employment, probable cause and random drug testing of employees. The typical cost of a
drug screening test is $30.4 One test for each of 38 employees would cost $1,110.
Bus parts. Based on the records provided by the district, the average annual cost of bus
purchases in the last five years is $57,522.
Office and restroom trailers are currently provided by CBS with all operating costs borne by the
district. Sample prices for used trailers of these types was obtained from online auctions,
providing a total cost of $13,000.

Offsetting these additional costs are savings the school district would gain from insourcing field trip and
special trip duties. CBS charges $34.96 per hour for field trips. The hourly cost of a district driver would
average $25.17, or $9.79 less than CBSs hourly rate.5 The district uses approximately 2,800 hour of field
trip and special trip time (equal to the FY 2011 total and proportional to the 920 hours of field trip time
charged in the first three months of FY 2014). This generates $27,402 in savings on field trips and special
trips. Each of these other costs and the offsetting savings is shown in Table 5, below.
Table 5. Other Costs and Offsetting Savings
Item
Amount
Background Checks
$2,405
Drug Tests
1,110
Bus Parts
57,522
Trailers
13,000
Field Trip Savings
-27,402
Total Other Costs (Net of Field Trip Savings)
46,635

Additional costs related to operating bus service have continued to be borne by the school district under
the contract with CBS and would continue under district operation, including buses, fuel, operating

Lake County Educational Service Center, FBI/BCI Information,

http://www.lcesc.k12.oh.us/public/ESC/personnel_fingerprinting.cfm.
4
Society for Human Resource Management, as reported in Think The Cost of Drug Testing is Too High? Think
Again, HireRight (blog), February 6, 2012, http://www.hireright.com/blog/2012/02/think-the-cost-of-preemployment-drug-testing-is-too-high-think-again/.
5
The cost of a regular hour of driver time is $20.14, consisting of the $17.22 average salary and adding Medicaid,
SERS and Workers Compensation payroll-based costs. For purposes of this proposal, we assume half of the driver
hourly cost would be paid at the regular rate and half at the 1.5-times overtime rate, producing an average hourly
cost of $25.17.

facilities, insurance and utilities, mechanics and related vehicle maintenance supplies.6 Therefore these
costs are not included in this comparison.

Total Cost Vs. CBS Contract

Combining payroll, benefits and other costs, this proposal estimates a total district cost of $1,342,822
per year to operate student transportation service. The school districts 2014-15 contract with CBS costs
$1,582,575. The district can therefore save $239,753 by insourcing student transportation.

Bus insurance is not included as an additional cost of insourcing because records provided by the school district
indicate the district has maintained bus property insurance and auto liability insurance covering school buses in
the years since student transportation service was outsourced with CBS.