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Request a DemoGeorgia’s struggling school bus system: Finding funds and drivers
This story is part two of an ongoing investigation that looks at the state’s aging school buses, bus driver shortages and a decline in state funding for student transportation — a trifecta that is having a serious impact on the education of a significant portion of Georgia’s youth. Part one focuses on the ways these challenges are affecting students and transportation personnel. Read it here.
Over the past 30 years, as Georgia’s population has grown, public schools in most districts have seen increased enrollment, fuel prices have risen, and labor costs have soared. The state’s student transportation budget has expanded, too, tripling in size.
In the early 1990s, the state covered about half the cost of transporting the state’s children to and from public schools. Since then, the state’s share of this expense has steadily declined, and local school districts have had to pay for most of those costs. Because some lower-wealth districts can’t generate enough funds, they’ve struggled to replace older buses with new ones and to maintain bus fleets in good working order.
Now, in a time of record-high inflation, supply chain challenges, and an ever-worsening labor shortage, more school districts across the state are finding it difficult to hire and retain bus drivers, mechanics and other transportation personnel to upgrade their fleets and to provide reliable bus service for students. Buses are breaking down more frequently in some districts, and students in others find themselves crammed into crowded buses and not always getting to school on time.
So, whose responsibility is it to ensure that schools have decent buses, adequate transportation staffing, and sufficient funding to maintain safe and reliable bus operations?
Click here to register for our town hall on the school bus crisis.
By law, the state is required to help local school districts transport public school students who live at least 1.5 miles away from their assigned school, as well as students with special needs.
“But there is no minimum amount that the state is required to contribute to this mandated service,” said Claire Suggs, legislative policy analyst for Professional Association of Georgia Educators. “There should be, because we have to have kids in school.”
In 2012, a joint legislative Education Finance Study Commission that spent 15 months looking at K-12 school funding recommended the state substantially increase bond funding for school bus replacement to $45 million per year “to keep the fleet of buses operated by school systems current and operating within their useful life cycle.” The commission also recommended the state fund half the total cost of student transportation, as calculated by the Department of Education.
But the state’s share of student transportation costs has hovered between 15% and 20% since then. In 2022, the state allocated $232 million to school districts, representing 20.3% of the $1.1 billion total cost of student transportation.
Local school districts try to fill that funding gap through local fundraising efforts. The most common approach that counties take is to raise millage rates on property taxes. The millage, or tax rate, is set in each county by the board of county commissioners and the Board of Education, according to the Georgia Department of Revenue. One millage equals a tax liability of $1 per $1,000 of assessed value.
Barrow County Schools had a millage rate of 17.881 mills in 2022, a 12% increase over 2021, which was projected to yield $42 million and cost taxpayers with a home value of $300,000 about $227. In Henry County, the school system’s taxation rate of 20 mills will yield $207 million in taxes in 2023, a bit more than in 2022 because property values have increased.
“But counties have a constitutional limit — they can only levy up to 20 mills,” said Angela Palm, legislative and policy director of the Georgia School Boards Association. “Districts get to a place where they can’t go any further, and the only thing they can do is cut from other school programs to maintain transportation.”
School districts can also raise education funds through Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) campaigns, using a one-penny sales tax, if approved by local residents, dedicated to capital projects such as buildings, equipment and vehicles. ESPLOST money cannot be used for personnel costs.
In Lumpkin County, a mountainous area in north Georgia that includes Dahlonega, school Superintendent Rob Brown said his district had been allotted one or two buses a year from the state for the last five years. “And we’ve got many miles of dirt roads that are hard on buses, and we couldn’t keep up with repairs on our aging fleet,” he said.
So in 2022, Lumpkin purchased 20 buses at one time, using $2 million in ESPLOST funds.
Their new gas-powered buses, which cost about $100,000 each, have up-to-date features the old buses don’t, including air conditioning, electronic stability control, better radios and video cameras and an illuminated stop arm.
Brown said he’s grateful that his district, which enjoys a good deal of tourism business, could generate the needed funds. But he noted that “poorer rural areas” with a smaller property tax base and a limited amount of commerce, such as Jeff Davis County Schools in south Georgia where he previously worked, “are hard-pressed to get much out of either a millage increase or an ESPLOST,” he said.
“The value of a mill in Jeff Davis is about $200,000; that doesn’t get you very far,” said Brown. “And even if they could do an ESPLOST, you can’t use it to pay bus drivers and mechanics.”
In rural districts, Brown said, “if they’ve got inoperable buses and not enough drivers, they’ll have to keep doubling up on routes and packing those buses three to a seat. Routes that might usually take an hour and 15 minutes might take two hours and 15 minutes, which is hard on students. And of course, you’re putting more pressure on your team by doing that. They can get overwhelmed.”
“The ESPLOST is fantastic for high-wealth school districts, but that well is dry for low wealth and rural districts,” said Stephen Owens, education director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI).
In Taliaferro County, “We’ve got three convenience stores and a couple of restaurants,” said school Superintendent Allen Fort. “Our monthly SPLOST generates $12,000. We’ve used it for a bus, school equipment and technology upgrades we really needed. And we’re at 17.9 mills now — we raise $50,000 per mill, so it costs us 2 mills to buy a bus. We have no ability to fund all of the buses we need to keep our fleet updated.”
Clayton County Public Schools currently operates 497 diesel buses, 300 of which are “past their life span,” said Denise Hall, the transportation director for Clayton. She said those buses “have frequent mechanical issues and are in constant need of repair.” She added that they often break down en route, forcing her transportation office to respond with tow trucks, mechanics or a spare bus and backup driver.
A $350 million ESPLOST passed in April will allow Clayton to invest $29 million in purchasing 300 new buses over the next several years. Clayton has also won a federal Clean Air grant of $9.8 million to purchase 25 electric buses and build two charging stations.
But Hall is still challenged to find drivers for her new buses.
“Drivers are pretty much a revolving door,” said Hall. “For every one I hire, two have to terminate. I was 50 drivers short at the start of the school year. Now I have seven open routes.” She said, “Because turnover is so rapid, we do [commercial driver’s license ] classes every two weeks to make ourselves whole.” Despite raising starting pay to $21 per hour from $18 last fall and offering retention bonuses, “some people come in just to get the Class B license and go straight to Amazon.”
Rep. Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, the House Appropriations Committee chair, said the bus driver shortage in Georgia “is in line with the labor shortage nationally — every job you can think of is experiencing a shortage in labor.” He said he was unaware of problems with aging fleets or the impact of busing conditions on students. Accounts of those challenges, he added, are troubling.
“I do know that many districts are depending on the state's funding, different ones at different levels,” he said. “Some tax their local property owners a lot less millage than others. I mean, where is that magic place that they all need to be, and who's funding what? What is the local district paying? You know, what millage are they at? Are they at 20 mills? At 10? At 7?”
Hatchett noted that “the governor funded $188 million in new school buses last year” and that the Legislature “put more money in education this year than we ever have, $13.1 billion. I mean, we're fully funding QBE [the Quality Basic Education funding formula for K-12 schools]. Teachers got another $2,000. And bus drivers got a 5% raise. And so we can look at the bad things, but the good things are that education is a focus of our governor, our Senate, our House.”
Hatchett said he has not spent much time considering student transportation in the budget. “And you're pointing out an area that we need to look at, and we need to address,” he said. “We’ve got to get transportation where it needs to be. But we also need to go district by district, and see what’s being paid for. Due to a lot of federal funds from COVID [relief], they've got a lot of money … Are they spending the education funds they have on buses, or on athletics? Or in the classroom? You know, what are we missing?”
Owens of GBPI said the state’s 2022 appropriation for buses “is a wonderful and welcome investment, and I hope it’s a sign of more to come.” But, he noted, because pupil transportation is a separate education budget expense category not integrated into the QBE funding formula, “lawmakers can continue to spend the same amount on transportation year after year, and rightfully say that they fully funded QBE. But what they’re funding does not come close to covering the true cost of transportation.”
“A 5% raise on $18 an hour for bus drivers does not address the financial needs of transportation personnel,” Owens said. “They need a livable wage, and more than a meager pension. They are viewed as a valued part of the educational system by their schools and their communities, but they are not treated that way in the budget.”
Regarding schools’ use of federal funds, the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education released a DOE-commissioned study report in November that showed Georgia’s school districts and state commission charter schools (also known as local education agencies, or LEAs) have used COVID-19 relief and emergency relief funds to cover student transportation costs.
Nearly 31% of participating LEAs reported using Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to offset fuel costs, and 22% spent the federal funds on other student transportation costs, including replacing old buses.
Owens noted that the fuel costs are “going to be there when the federal money is gone. And so that almost feels like that strengthens that idea that we need to have consistent state support, so we don't rely on a one-time federal infusion of cash.”
“The state needs to vastly increase its commitment to transportation, and to start by taking a holistic look at the education budget and the QBE funding formula,” Palm, from the Georgia School Boards Association, said. “And a partnership between local school districts and the state to support student transportation needs to be more evenly split than it currently is. I don’t know if that’s 50-50 or 60-40, but I don’t think it should be 80-20.”
She points out that health insurance is another big expense for school districts that “sits outside of QBE in the budget,” and a financial pressure on school districts that is becoming more acute.
After the 2008 Great Recession forced the state to adopt an austerity budget, in 2011 the Legislature eliminated the state’s contribution to the cost of health insurance for bus drivers, nutrition workers, custodians and other nonteaching, or noncertified, education personnel. That move shifted about $300 million in annual costs to school districts at the time.
Since then, the State Health Benefit Plan premiums have skyrocketed. This year, district leaders were shocked by the governor’s proposal to increase the cost of monthly premiums per noncertified employee to $1,580 from $945, an expense that school districts must now wholly bear. Once fully implemented, in 2025, this will be an additional annual expense of $458 million for local school districts.
“Since districts are already covering the vast majority of the cost of transporting kids safely to and from school, this increase in health insurance costs is going to make it even more challenging for many districts to pay transportation employees competitive wages, and to invest what they need to in transportation operations to provide this vital service,” said PAGE’s Suggs. “Looking ahead, districts are going to have to make some hard decisions. It’s very important to provide health insurance for their employees. So they may have less to invest in the classroom.”
“That really wasn’t fair to districts, to do it all at once,” said Hatchett of the health premium cost jump. “We should have been increasing it all along. But health insurance costs have gone up tremendously, and we had to fill that hole.”
Asked what the state should do to address the funding deficit and operational challenges in student transportation, State School Superintendent Richard Woods offered this response to State Affairs, via email:
“It is absolutely essential that our school systems have the resources they need to transport students safely to and from school. This is an issue I encountered personally as a school leader in rural Georgia and it’s one I hear as I meet with local school superintendents now. Our systems are also facing the headwinds of the overall labor market and nationwide bus driver shortages.
“I have consistently advocated to the state Legislature for increased transportation funding and for modernization of the QBE formula to align state funding with the expenses of a 21st-century education … I appreciate the Legislature dedicating funding for transportation upgrades in recent state budgets and am committed to partnering with them to continue to address this need in the future.”
Doretha Stewart Mitchell, 60, whose daughter, Zhaqueline, has been chronically late to her Augusta high school over the past few years, said, “Well, I hope someone can break the stalemate around busing.”
When the bus has conked out, or failed to show, Mitchell has rounded up the teenagers waiting at the bus stop and taken them to school in her car, sometimes making two or three trips. She said she’s talked many times with the Richmond County transportation director and the principal of her daughter’s school about the impact of “the broken bus system” on her community’s children.
“They tell me they need more drivers, and more funding, and they’re doing the best they can,” she said. “But year after year, it’s the same old argument and the same old outcome. What I say is, if you don’t fix it, you’re not showing me that you value our children.”
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‘It is nothing short of insane:’ Bill to criminalize squatting signed by governor
ATLANTA — Today Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation criminalizing squatting, the illegal practice of entering and residing on someone else’s property without their consent. The Georgia Squatter Reform Act makes squatting a misdemeanor criminal offense, punishable by up to a year in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both. It also speeds up the timeline to …
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ATLANTA — When Cpl. Anthony Munoz straps on his bullet-proof vest each day and pulls out of the Department of Public Safety headquarters in Atlanta, Munoz never knows how his shift will unfold. What is for certain is that the traffic — of cars, criminals and contraband — is constant. And what is also true …
In hot water with your HOA? A new law buys you time to fix the problem
The Gist
Georgia homeowners living in communities governed by homeowners’ associations now get time to fix a covenant violation before the HOA can take legal action, thanks to legislation signed into law Monday.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed House Bill 220 at the Capitol, continuing his flurry of bill-signings across the state. To date, Kemp has signed about three dozen bills since sine die, which marked the end of the 2024 legislative session, his spokesman Garrison Douglas told State Affairs. Sine die ended in the early hours of March 29. The governor has until May 7 to sign, veto or take no action on a bill. If he takes no action, the bill automatically becomes law.
What’s Happening
HB 220 requires community-governed associations to notify in writing a home or condo owner of a covenant breach — such as painting their house a color not approved by the association, and give them time to fix it before going to court or taking some other legal action.
Rep. Rob Leverett, R-Elberton, sponsored the bill which included parts of an HOA bill promoted by Sen. Donzella James, D-Atlanta. James had been trying for two years to get some HOA-related legislation passed.
While the HOA portion of HB 220 does not go as far as James’ proposed single legislation, it’s a start, she and others say.
Why It Matters
An overwhelming majority of new subdivisions being built in Georgia now will have HOAs, experts told State Affairs. In fact, new homes that are part of a homeowner association are growing fastest in the southern and western part of the United States. An estimated 2.2 million, roughly 22%, Georgia residents live in a building or home overseen by anHOA or some other type of community association, according to the Community Association Institute.
Lawmakers such as James have heard complaints in which HOAs have terrorized homeowners and threatened to take their property, all while homeowners have had little to no legal options. In some cases, homeowners have lost their homes after falling behind on HOAs fees, even if they never missed a mortgage payment.
What’s Next?
While HB 220 is now law, Senate Resolution 37 has yet to be appointed. The resolution, sponsored by James, creates the Senate Property Owners’ Associations, Homeowners’ Associations, and Condominium Associations Study Committee. Committee members will be appointed by the President of the Senate, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones.
Lawmakers appointed to the committee will delve further into HOA issues before presenting recommendations to the Legislature when it convenes in January.
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All you need to know heading into the May 21 primary
Gist
Georgia’s primary is less than a month away and there’s a lot to unpack.
The May 21 primary will be the first time some Georgians will be voting in new districts for state and congressional candidates. They’ll also be voting in local races for sheriff, judges, school board or county commission members. Primary winners who have challengers will go on to compete in the Nov. 5 general election. Georgia is an open primary state, meaning voters can choose the party ballot they wish to vote for.
This year, Georgians who want to vote absentee in the primary could face possible challenges due to mail delivery delays.
What’s Happening
North Georgia and metro Atlanta are seeing significant mail delivery delays. The holdup, according to media reports, appears to be at the United States Postal Services’ new Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto. The problem has led to dangerous situations in which people are not getting critical medication.
Georgia’s U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff recently grilled USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on the delays. Ossoff told DeJoy during an April 16 hearing that on-time delivery rates were abysmal. He said 66% of outbound first-class mail had been delivered on time while 36% of inbound mail had been delivered on time in the last three months.
DeJoy blamed the problem on the difficulty in condensing operations at the facility.
With the approaching primary, state lawmakers are concerned the ongoing mail delays could disrupt the election process.
Mike Hassinger, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office, told State Affairs that Georgia voters are ready.
“Georgia voters are already registered,” he said. “They know how they like to vote. More than half of them vote early. About 5% vote absentee by mail, just in general, and then the rest are voting on election day. So we’ve been able to set up systems that are familiar with Georgia voters so that the percentage who might be worried about their absentee by mail ballots are relatively small.”
Why It Matters
Georgia emerged as one of the country’s most important political battleground states during the 2020 election. The Peach State will once again play a key role in deciding who wins the 2024 presidential election in November.
In the May 21 primary, Georgia voters will whittle down their choices for who they send to Congress and to the state capitol next year.
Under a federal court-approved redistricting process last year, Georgia now has new congressional and state district electoral maps. Those maps created one majority Black seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, five new majority-Black districts in the state House and two in the state Senate.
The redistricting resulted in new seats, intriguing matchups and former politicians returning to the fray. You can see the newly drawn maps here.
What’s Next?
Here’s what you need to know to ensure a smooth voting process:
To vote early.
Early voting is April 29 to May 17. Find your polling place here.
To vote absentee.
Here’s what you can do to avoid problems if you vote absentee:
- Get your absentee ballot application done early. You can request an absentee ballot here.
- Track your application through Georgia BallotTrax. You must have a valid absentee request on file with your county board of elections in order to see your absentee ballot status in Georgia BallottTrax.
- If you’ve been having mail delays, place your completed absentee ballot in an official drop box during advanced voting instead of using the United States Postal Service. Check your county voter registration and election office for drop box locations. And yes, your absentee ballot counts. It is counted in the final tally not just close races.
- If you change your mind about voting absentee and decide to vote in person, take your absentee ballot to your local elections office where they will void it.
- If you need to contact your county election office, find that information here.
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