Columbus (Ohio) school board approves bus contract

From The Columbus Dispatch: The Columbus (Ohio) school board, in a 4-3 vote, has approved a contract to make First Student its sole private bus contractor until 2013. The board had tabled a vote last week when some members wanted to give some of the bus routes to a minority business.

Earlier from The Columbus Dispatch: The stage is set for a showdown between Superintendent Gene Harris and the Columbus (Ohio) school board over which companies should share in a $14.2 million bus contract. Harris will again recommend that First Student, the largest school-bus company in North America, get the entire contract based on its lower price. Last week, the board voted 4-3 to table an identical proposal. Some board members want First Student to partner with Capital Transportation, partly because the owner of the local firm is black and because being inclusive to minorities is a core district value.

The Columbus Dispatch: The Columbus (Ohio) School Board has voted to table a bus contract with First Student; members hinted that the company should partner with a small black-owned firm, even though that could cost taxpayers almost $1 million more. Superintendent Gene Harris recommended hiring First Student, whose $285-per-route price for bus service crushed the competition so much that Harris decided to end the practice of splitting the contract among several firms.