F orty-seven school buses. That’s how many were running at least an hour late to and from Seattle Public Schools on a crisp Friday in October. Little surprise to the hundreds of kids waiting: Buses had been running behind since the first day of school, sometimes by two hours.

First Student, the company that sends out most Seattle school buses, blamed driver shortages. Many had quit since a drivers’ strike last February, and hiring replacements had been tough. The school bus company, North America’s largest, was supposed to compensate Seattle Public Schools for the service problems, according to its contract with the district. But First Student kept sending the usual invoices, and Seattle schools officials kept paying them … all the while shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars for back-up buses, taxis, and Metro bus passes. Now, halfway through the year, a KUOW analysis shows that First Student owes the district an estimated $3.3 million … with no indication that the district will recoup anywhere near that amount. School district spokesman Tim Robinson issued a written statement: “As good stewards of public funds and in an effort to get students to and from school, we continue to work closely with our contracted vendor, First Student, to improve performance.

“Seattle Public Schools takes its fiscal steward responsibilities seriously. Please know that due to ongoing negotiations and legal claims raised by both First Student and Seattle Public Schools, we cannot provide more detail at this time.” But by all accounts, the district has little negotiating power: First Student was the sole bidder on the contract. “The district is in a tenuous position when the contract is up next year,” said Shannon McMinimee, former attorney for Seattle Public Schools. “They could be worried that they will have no bidders next year if they are aggressive now.” S hawna Murphy is a south Seattle mom with two kids in the district. Both receive special education services.

“My third-grader’s special ed bus was late over 20 times in November and December,” Murphy said. Her daughter suffers from transportation anxiety, Murphy said, so getting to school even five minutes late upsets her. “When her bus is late arriving after school, that means that the school has to provide staffing in accordance with the special ratios for the children in the group," Murphy said. Two district employees had to work overtime to wait with children for their buses. And once, someone from the district drove her daughter home because her bus route didn’t have a driver that day. The school district has a three-year contract with First Student, and pays the company $30 million a year. The contract requires the bus company to pay for late and missed routes, and the cost of paying for back-up buses. But the district has not enforced this requirement, and instead has shouldered the financial burden for First Student’s failure to run buses on time.

That includes pricey back-up charter buses that drive up from Pierce County, taxis, mileage reimbursement for parents, school staff staying late to supervise kids whose buses haven’t come, and make-up tutoring for special education students who have missed class. Murphy said she was “shocked” to hear that First Student hasn’t paid for these bus problems. “Why aren’t they fining First Student for these breaches of contract? They have to spend their money more wisely,” she said, especially given the district’s projected budget gap next year.

Credit: KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer

A s is standard in school transportation contracts, First Student is required to adjust its charges to the district for any late routes, defined as between 11 and 30 minutes behind schedule. Missed trips, known as “blown” routes, are supposed to be deducted in full from each invoice. If routes more than 30 minutes late qualify as blown routes, as the contract implies, First Student would owe the district nearly $16,000 in deductions for that one October day. The district would not tell KUOW how many late or blown routes it has tallied this school year, citing negotiations with the contractor. But KUOW calculations, based on the bus delays listed daily on the district’s website, suggest First Student may owe the district more than $860,000 in billing adjustments. Three months of billing records between the district and First Student, which KUOW obtained through a public records request, show that the district has not deducted payments for late or “blown” routes as outlined in the contract.