ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. (March 24, 2008) — School bus owner-operators in Louisiana may get more for their operations and maintenance costs, as one school board urged the state to provide additional funding in a formula that has not changed since the 1980s.

In Louisiana, school bus drivers that own and operate their own school buses have the cost of gasoline, oil changes, tires and other operating expenses lumped into their paycheck. George Horne, a consultant with decades of experience in school transportation, said the system goes back to the 1930s, when districts first began consolidating and called on local businesses to offer transportation services to students. Under the system, operational pay was based on a scale that looks at vehicle capacity, mileage and other considerations.

But that scale hasn’t been updated since the late 1980s and doesn't consider increased operating expenses, Miller said. Back then a tire cost $99. Today it costs $250. Miller and his wife both drive buses and spend as much as $600 per month on fuel.

Earlier this month, Miller, a pastor who has owned and operated his own bus for the last three years, and a group nearly 70 owner-operators presented their concern with this system to both the St. Tammany school board and the state legislature.

Most new owner-operators choose to buy buses that are towards the edge of the 10-year age limit because they can’t afford the $70,000 cost of a new bus, Miller said. With high up-front and regular costs like this, Miller said he doesn’t know how he could afford to suffer a blown engine or any other major mechanical problem.

"If I got hit with a blow like that, I’d have to find a new job," he added.

Miller said he doesn’t know how much more own operators should get.

"We just want what’s fair," he said.

According to Horne, some parishes have helped owner-operators defray some of these costs by offering a supplement for fuel costs. Ultimately, Horne said he thinks districts will move away from owner-operators and towards contracted services.

"I think the owner-operator is almost like the dinosaurs," Horne said. "I believe they're going to be extinct before long."