State College Schools To Downsize Late-Activity Buses

The State College Area school board agreed Monday night to downsize — but not eliminate — the district’s late-activity-bus service for the 2010-2011 school year.

Under the informally approved plan, the district would save about $51,460 of the $75,000 now allocated for the late-day bus runs. Nine current bus routes would be consolidated into four: the West Run, reaching the College Heights, Park Forest and Grays Woods areas; the East Run, reaching the Boalsburg and Lemont areas; the North Run, reaching the Toftrees, Houserville and Nittany Mall areas; and the Downtown/Ferguson Township Run, reaching neighborhoods near downtown State College and Ferguson Township.

Those changes mean many students would be dropped off farther from their homes, transportation director Van Swauger told the board. About 90 students a day use the late-bus service, which transports them home around 6 p.m. after late-day school activities.

The streamlining is part of $3.4 million in budget cuts that the board is trying to achieve for the 2010-2011 school year. Those cuts should allow board members to hold the property-tax increase this year to no more than three percent — a key goal that the board has established.

Among the planned cuts, the board is looking to eliminate 18.5 positions through attrition, for a savings of $1.075 million. On Monday, the district released a partial list of the affected positions. They include 4.5 teaching positions at State College Area High School — jobs that are currently vacant. They ‘will not need to be filled due to course registration,’ according to a district document.

The attrition plan also would cut five already-vacant clerical and paraprofessional positions in various locations, and a Title 1 coordinator position for the elementary schools. Duties for the latter would be ‘assumed by existing personnel,’ according to the district document.

More details about the attritional cuts will be released at a board meeting next week, business administrator Jeff Ammerman said. Superintendent Richard Mextorf said the district will ask some existing employees to ‘serve us differently’ in light of the staffing reductions.

Another possible cost-cutting measure would trim the use of coach buses by athletic teams and other student groups. For more than 15 years, athletic director Ron Pavlechko said, the district has provided coach buses for most trips of more than one hour in each direction.

A proposal under board consideration would extend the threshold to 100 miles each way. On a typical trip, the district can save 60 percent on transit costs by using conventional school buses instead of coach buses, transportation director Van Swauger told the board.

A change in policy could save the district an estimated $68,000 a year.

The board is expected to finalize a budget by June.

Among other developments Monday night, the board approved contracts for the renovation and expansion of Ferguson Township Elementary School and for the construction of a new school — Mount Nittany Elementary. Mount Nittany Elementary will sit near Mount Nittany Middle School and replace the Boalsburg and Panorama Village elementary schools.

The projects will cost the district about $33 million. Construction on both will start this summer, and both new facilities are scheduled to open in September 2011, said Ed Poprik, director of physical plant.

Earlier coverage: State College Swim Program May Survive Budget Cuts