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Meeting Date:
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9/26/2019 - 6:30 PM
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Category:
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Report of the Committee on Accountability, Finance, and Personnel
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Type:
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Action
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Subject:
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14. Action on Recommended Changes to Optimize Fiscal Year 2021 Transportation Services
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Strategic Plan Compatibility Statement:
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Goal 3 Effective and Efficient Operations
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Attachments
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File Attachment:
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Background:
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Milwaukee Public Schools provides home to school transportation services to approximately 54,000 students annually for district, suburban, and private school students who live in the city of Milwaukee or, if they participate in specialty programs such as Chapter 220, Homeless Education or Foster Placement Network Programs, in surrounding municipalities. The district also provides services for a variety of other district-sponsored programs such as Head Start; Interscholastic Athletics; The Community Assessment and Training Program (CATP); Learning Journeys, and Special Olympics.
Chapter 121.54 of the Wisconsin Statutes spells out the provisions under which the school board of each district shall provide for the transportation of pupils, including establishment, administration, and scheduling of school bus routes. MPS Administrative Policy 4.04 further states that the Milwaukee Public Schools’ Transportation Services is to provide safe, adequate, efficient, and economical service to all eligible Milwaukee-resident students.
The administration is exploring possible transportation modifications for FY21 that optimize a Regional Transportation System. The Administration has put together for consideration a transportation restructure alternative that maximizes bus utilization efficiency and includes several limited service reductions scenarios to support its implementation These scenarios vary in scope and range from adjusting service types and models while maintaining existing transportation eligibility, to rethinking administrative policy to mitigate high distance, low utilization transportation. The scenarios assume “grandfathering” services whereby students already enrolled would be allowed to continue with transportation from their current address. The following are five recommended transportation changes:
1) Reevaluate Neighborhood and Citywide Specialty School Transportation status and revise select School(s) Transportation Policy after identified.
2) Combine Transportation at all K–12 or 6–12 school sites.
3) Revise Transportation Region for Traditional Middle Schools to a seven-mile zone.
4) Revise service type for any transportation eligible High School student over 7 miles from their enrolled school to Milwaukee County Transit bus.
5) Revise All District Neighborhood Specialty Schools Transportation Region to mirror a Montessori’s region at 5-mile zone
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Fiscal Impact Statement:
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The fiscal impact of the administration's proposed actions depends on the range of implemented options. The potential savings range from $200,000 to $4,000,000 for FY21 and are detailed in the Transportation Options Estimated Saving attachment provided
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Implementation and Assessment Plan
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Actions for FY21 implementation:
i. September 2019 Board Approval of Actions identitied
ii. October 2019 Transportation Region and Service Type changes advertised and applied to Early Admissions
iii. January-July 2020 Transportation Region changes applied to all other enrollment periods
iv. January-July 2020 Pupil Transportation Restructure and planning adjustments to model for FY21 implementation
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Recommendation:
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Your Committee recommends that the Board approve the following changes to optimize transportation services for fiscal year 2021.
1. re-evaluation of neighborhood and citywide specialty school transportation status and revision of select schools’ transportation policies after identified
2. revision of transportation region for traditional middle schools to a seven-mile zone
3. revision of service type to Milwaukee County Transit bus for any transportation-eligible high-school student over seven miles from his/her enrolled school.
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Approvals:
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Recommended By:
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Signed By:
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Jacqueline M. Mann, Ph.D. - Board Clerk/Chief Officer
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