Framingham School Committee seeks to modify its bus service contract. What it proposes

FRAMINGHAM — The School Committee has voted unanimously to move school transportation to an in-house model starting with the 2025-26 school year, when the district will no longer use bus drivers hired by its current vendor, NRT Bus Inc.

The city's current contract with NRT runs through fiscal 2026, meaning the School Committee vote would modify the final year of the pact to have Framingham Public Schools lease NRT buses, but use drivers hired by the city.

The vote still needs approval from the Framingham City Council and Mayor Charlie Sisitsky.

During their March 20 meeting, School Committee members were given five options to consider for busing. The panel voted 9-0 in favor of one that would adopt in-house busing for 2025-26.

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Under the proposed plan, in-house busing would start July 1, 2025, meaning it would be also used for summer school busing ahead of the 2025-26 school year. The district would spend the 2024-25 school year hiring enough drivers so that it can implement in-house busing.

Driver shortage has long been an aggravation in Framingham

Busing has been a major headache for Framingham Public Schools, with the main issue being a shortage of drivers. For this school year, the city contracted with NRT to supply 77 drivers, but the actual number available has been consistently around 57. The shortage has led to busing that doesn't serve all students, delayed arrivals and departures, and frustration among parents and educators.

"Many students are not able to receive transportation to school, and many of the students who do receive transportation are late to school," said Jennifer Israeloff, a fourth grade teacher at Stapleton Elementary School, during the March 20 School Committee meeting. "From a teacher's perspective, I can tell you that when kids come to school late, they are missing instruction time that I simply cannot make up later in the day."

Israeloff added that students who arrive late often have to quickly grab a cold breakfast and eat while following instruction, while everyone else gets a more timely transition into school.

"This stress can lead to students feeling disconnected and anxious from the moment they arrive at school," Israeloff said.

Framingham Public Information Officer Susan Petroni told the Daily News that Sisitsky is waiting to see a detailed financial analysis regarding the cost of converting to in-house busing before committing to it.

Fiscal 2026 move seen as most logical choice by committee

Other options presented to the School Committee on March 20 included continuing with NRT-hired drivers through the 2025-26 school year; NRT proposing a new, five-year contract with the city; and even breaking off from NRT at the end of the current school year and starting 2024-25 with in-house busing.

School Committee member Ricardo Robles asked Lincoln Lynch, executive director of finance and operations for Framingham Public Schools, what the likelihood was that the city could hire 65 bus drivers before this fall; Lynch responded that it was nearly impossible.

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“I’d say the likelihood is very low for the start of the school year," he said. "To guarantee 65 drivers, I’d say there is zero chance — we are just so far into the FY24 year that to be ready for FY25, the more we think about it, the more we continue to see the driver shortage. It almost seems like those options, to start day one (next year) will not be better than staying with the current vendor."

School Committee member Jennifer Moshe said she believes that moving busing in-house makes the most sense, but not until the district can ensure it's on the right path to improving transportation services.

“I do think that coming in-house is the best option, but it's not the best option for Sept. 1," she said. "I do think it would be the best option for 2025-26. Basically, you are creating a new business, and is there any guarantee that we will be doing any better? No, but we can make sure we're doing things correctly and that the day we go live, in-house, we are 100% where we're supposed to be.”

Freudberg says in-house busing has worked in Framingham before

The district had previously run busing in-house, switching to a vendor model in 2011. The idea at the time was that having a vendor model would save money, but committee members have stated that savings never really materialized, and that the cost of doing business with a vendor like NRT continues to rise.

Framingham narrowly avoided being caught in the middle of a strike last year, following a labor dispute between drivers and NRT. The district opted to sign a new three-year contract that bumped up driver pay, at the cost of an additional $1.8 million annually to the district. The district currently pays NRT $8 million per year to provide student busing.

School Committee member Adam Freudberg, a staunch advocate for taking busing back in-house — including making a video documentary highlighting the history of problems caused by using outside vendors — said the in-house model has worked before and can work again.

“It is the specific solution to this problem," he said. "We are already partly in-house — the district does the routing, the district does the dispatching. All that is missing is the local control over the other remaining aspects and the importance of supporting the drivers through a financial package that we set."

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Framingham School Committee supports taking busing program in-house