With poll: Ypsilanti school board approves joining countywide busing system

WISD originally hoped all 10 traditional districts would join the busing entity, but officials now say they only expect five will do so. Willow Run has already approved participating, and Ann Arbor will vote on Wednesday.

The Ypsilanti school board agreed to join a countywide transportation system.

WISD officials said at the board’s May 24 meeting that the consolidation plan will save the district an estimated $1.25 million annually. That accounts for roughly 34 percent of its $3.5 million in transportation expenditures.

The district is attempting to make $6.4 million in cuts before next year.

But transportation employees and their union leadership argued the salary cuts are too deep. The proposed plan would reduce the average Ypsilanti bus driver’s wages by 17 percent - from $18.16 per hour to $14.96 per hour. Drivers would make no less than $13 an hour, and no more than $16 an hour.

Mechanics and aides would face similar pay cuts.

In addition, transportation employees are expected to begin paying a 30-percent health insurance premium and would see their annual deductible rise from $400 to $2,000 for an individual.

Ypsilanti Support Staff Association President Kevin Fortune said he understands the district’s needs to save money, but he's angry the board approved this particular consolidation plan.

“It’s not like we’re out here asking for a raise, but when you’re putting your community in poverty, something is wrong,” he said. “They’re barely making it now; they aren’t going to be able to make it with this plan.”

Under the plan, employees will be laid off by the district, then hired by the WISD transportation entity.

Beyond reductions in personnel costs, savings are anticipated through economy of scale, centralizing administration and optimization of routes. Officials say eliminating “deadhead miles,” a term used to describe miles driven when no kids are on the bus, would account for a large portion of the savings in optimizing routes.

Routes will largely stay the same next year for general education students, then will be determined by WISD officials the following school year. Routes for special education students will likely change next school year.

Several community members said they were alarmed about a provision in the plan requiring students who live within 1.5 miles of their school to walk. Students also could be required to walk up to a half mile to their bus stop.

Several board members and administrators said the district has the option to shorten that distance at an extra cost, and all indicated they would be in favor of doing so. They also expressed interest in continuing to have kindergarten students dropped off at their front doors, as they are now.

The emotionally-charged, two-hour meeting brought several sharp exchanges. It concluded with audience members shouting at the board while exiting the high school auditorium.

Trustees Kira Berman and Andy Fanta voted against the proposal. Berman said she is in favor of consolidation, but feels the plan is unfair to transportation employees.

She pointed out the district’s deficit elimination plan called for a 25-percent cut in transportation costs, while this option reaches roughly 35-percent.

“I think there is another way to go,” she said. “We can do better. We can get a just consolidation plan.”

Fanta also said he wanted a “fair” consolidation plan. He explained his work as a bankruptcy lawyer influenced how he looked at the proposal. He then laid out the math of the monthly income and expenses of a hypothetical single mother of two living off $13 per hour.

He contended a person with two kids couldn't live off an estimated gross income of roughly $21,100 annually - assuming the bus driver works 10 months - and asked the other board members to “take a step into the real world with me.”

“This is a human tragedy unfolding, and this is the real world,” he said.

Board President David Bates called the decision “heart-wrenching,” but said the cuts had to be made.

“If we don’t make this part of the plan, I don’t see how we’re not going to be making worse cuts of a different nature in another place,” he said.

Trustee Floyd Brumfield said the intensity at which board members objected to the plan was a “shock.” “We’ve all known for some time what was coming,” he said.

He added he's heard no alternative to making cuts.

“I know of no other way to get this done,” he said. “If you have a good idea, bring it forward.”

Fanta replied that other options, such as significant cuts to administrators' salaries, have never been on the table.

“When we vote to do this, and I have suspicion we will vote 5-2, the values of all of us are going to be very, very clear,” he said before the vote. “And I, for one, am proud of my voice on this and I think this is wrong, wrong, wrong.”

After the meeting, Superintendent Dedrick Martin said cutting anyone’s salary is difficult.

“We are impacting quality employees, but we have to move forward and create a financially viable district where kids can continue to learn,” he said.

Tom Perkins is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.