ROCK HILL, S.C. — Nearly 100 school buses run in and out of the Rock Hill school district lot each day. A new proposal from state lawmakers would put the purchase, maintenance and fueling of the buses in local hands.
South Carolina is the only state that owns and operates its school bus fleet. The fleet of more than 4,000 buses is aging, with the average bus being more than 13 years old, with 200,000 miles on it.
The state has had its share of trouble funding school buses since the economic downturn of 2008. After not purchasing any buses for a dozen years, the state bought used buses from Kentucky just to get by. State leaders have even considered allowing advertising on inside walls to help defray the rising costs of maintenance and diesel fuel.
One year, lawmakers took $52 million of state lottery money and used it to buy school buses.
Now, the push is to get out of the school bus business altogether.
Republican state Rep. Gary Simrill of Rock Hill wants to look at privatizing school buses. Other states have had success there.
"I plan to propose an amendment requesting that we do a pilot project," Simrill said. "We have 85 school districts in South Carolina. Pick one, and maybe one will even volunteer to say, ‘Let's do it here first.’"
Such a move could save the state millions of dollars. However, there is great concern about turning over the buses from the state to the local school districts. People who work in the districts say they can't shoulder the tremendous costs without help from the state.
"What we don't want is the mother of all unfunded mandates," said Rock Hill School Board Chairman Bob Norwood.
Since the bill is just being introduced for discussion on Tuesday, Norwood said the school board has not discussed it.
"A knee-jerk reaction is not something we want to do," he said.
School officials said local control of school buses could have many pluses, but the biggest red flag comes down to money.
Norwood said local schools must have state funds to be able to take over the bus system.
"We would want to have some degree of confidence that we won't have to pay millions and millions and millions of dollars in a time when we're struggling to make ends meet," he said.
Simrill said if the state gives control of buses to local school districts, they'll back it up with the necessary money to run them. The bill also would require the state to share the savings with local school districts.
"Anything we decide on in this bill, there will not be the keys to a bus back at the local district without the money to match it," he said.
Similar bills have been debated in Columbia before, but didn't have the votes to pass. Gov. Nikki Haley supports an effort to privatize the bus system, but the details are still to be worked out.
WSOC
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