Lewisville ISD to cut nearly 500 school bus drivers, says there are plans to hire internally
Lewisville ISD said it will not renew a current contract with a bus driver agency and instead will hire drivers internally to cut back on costs.
The agency is Texas Central School Bus Services. According to Lewisville ISD's website, it has partnered with them for at least a year.
According to a recent report from the Texas Workforce Commission last month, the agency filed three WARN notices, which shows 460 bus drivers will be laid off come mid-July.
WARN stands for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, which requires businesses to provide 60 days' notice of closures or mass layoffs.
According to the WARN notices, this will impact job sites at Purnell and Mill in Lewisville and Cougar Alley in The Colony.
As of last week, LISD said it is posting openings to hire drivers, monitors, mechanics and support staff.
"Currently, LISD spends about $16 million annually on transportation," the school district said in a statement. "Contracted services would have required a significant budget increase of $3 to $5 million. By bringing services in-house, we believe we can control costs, improve service quality, and offer more competitive pay to our drivers and monitors."
LISD also said that while public schools are required to offer transportation for students, funding from the state does not keep up.
LISD said it is spending $16 million right now while state funding for transportation is only 3.5 million.
