by Jim Boyle
Editor
The Elk River Area School Board approved a new two-year bus transportation contract with Vision Transportation on Monday, May 13, that will aggressively work to address bus driver shortages.
The driver minimum wage will be boosted to $27 an hour in the new contract. The cost of the new transportation contract in the first year is a 34.45% increase in year one and 5.11 % in year two.
“That might seem like a lot, and it did to us as well,” said Andy Almos, executive director of business services for ISD 728. “But as we’ve studied this contract and we’ve looked around at surrounding contracts and looked at comparable school districts our size, and what we’re running into tonight is basically a market correction to get us in line with school districts our size.”
School Board Member John Anderson asked what the previous wage for drivers was, and it was noted that wages started at $22.
Wages also went up for the 2023-24 school year, a move Vision Transportation officials took in good faith knowing contract negotiations were coming up and something had to be done to better recruit and retain drivers.
The new contract is for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years and comes with the ability to be extended through conversations with Vision.
The Elk River Area School District began contracting with Vision in 2000, but the company has been around for much longer. Vision is owned and operated by the third generation of the Hoglund family, according to its website.
Rachel Hoglund Klein told the Star News this week Vision’s mission is to serve the communities in the districts it serves by safely transporting students into their future.
Driver shortages have not made it easy for Vision or other bus companies for that matter.
Klein told the Star News her team is happy with the contract.
“We reached an agreement focused on service and really having a partnership for years to come,” she said.
ISD 728 sought interested vendors as part of due process to provide student transportation services. It received one interested bidder for regular education and special education (big bus) and seven bidders for Type III vehicles.
In the end, Almos said District 728 officials concluded Vision of Elk River is the best fit for the school district for the next contract term, and the administration recommended that the school board approve this contract.
Routing to be done by district now
Almos said Monday night one other big change in the new contract is the routing for transportation will be done in-house by the Elk River Area School District.
“As we grow (in enrollment) we start to compare with districts our size and routing becomes a very common (thing) for school districts to do,” Almos said. “Vision was willing to continue doing it, but they understood with our size that maybe they can focus on service and we can focus on routing and what this means for all our schools. If we can provide those routes to them, they can hopefully focus more on service, finding drivers, training drivers and all those things they do really well.”
Almos said growth is what makes the settlement possible. If the district had stable or declining enrollment, it would not be possible. He said the new wages will be tops in the area for bus drivers, which he said will be a good thing for driver recruitment. Vision is also working on other measures to improve recruitment and retention in the forms of benefits, Klein said.
Almos told the School Board the district has asked Vision Transportation to submit a service plan, outlining a driver training plan, student safety, dispatching, video, daily operations, contact lists and procedures.
The school district will have the task of routing. Almos said the addition of apartments in the area is one of the factors regularly impacting enrollment.
“You wouldn’t believe the number of families that add and change routes in the middle of the school year,” Almos said. “In any given day, it can be just constant.”
School Board Member Mindy Freiberg asked about the routing and whether that was considered a positive change.
Almos reiterated the change will allow Vision to focus on service.
“If we do the routing for Vision, and we’re able to give them the routes, hopefully they can prioritize their time spent on service.”
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