School Bus Transportation News at STN Media

Publisher's Commentary:

David & Goliath Meet on Capitol Hill

Bill Paul | Publisher

On May 10 representatives from the three major associations in pupil transportation — NAPT, NSTA and NASDPTS — met in Washington, DC, for the third time in as many years to seek to influence the policies of the United States of America on behalf of school bus safety.

Now consider the Old Testament story of David and Goliath as a metaphor for our era, and it begins to define the challenges that confront the pupil transportation industry.
Three years ago pupil transporters had to buttonhole legislators and staff to advocate for school bus safety. This year, several legislators and staff took time from their hectic schedules to meet with and converse about issues of concern to the four dozen pupil transporters present. The contrast was like night and day.

Among the high profile legislators who spent time with the group this year were U.S. congressmen John M. Shimkus, Charles Taylor, Thomas Petri, Wayne Duncan, Sherwood Boehlert, and John J. “Jimmy” Duncan. These congressmen serve on a variety of committees that shape federal policies affecting pupil transportation. Moreover, several senior committee staff members working on legislation of broad interest to transporters and educators came and shared their views and listened to industry concerns.

More than one legislator spoke of his personal commitment to school bus safety. Rep. “Jimmy” Duncan (R-TN) waxed enthusiastic about the prospect of the House giving approval to a resolution authorizing School Bus Safety Week. With the 50th congressman having just signed on to co-sponsor the measure, Duncan now has the ammunition needed to move the resolution forward. Rep. Wayne Gilchrist (R-MD) told of driving a school bus to pay for his college expenses.

Pupil transportation is well served too by the NSTA’s lobbyists, BKSH & Associates. BKSH is well connected to key legislators and staff on Capitol Hill and fully understands the school bus industry and its issues and concerns.

All this is well and good. These contacts, these “friends in high places,” the inroads the coalition of school bus interests has made over the course of the past three years, will serve the industry well in the decade ahead. Yet, more is needed.

I’m not talking about a proposed new law or regulation that pupil transportation leaders think needs to be enacted, though clearly we need some of those. Nor am I talking about a unified voice with which to go onto Capitol Hill, though a unified voice is essential. Despite the industry’s public service of providing nearly 10 billion student rides to American education nationwide annually, causing the federal leviathan to shift even a degree requires more than a good idea, broad political support, careful negotiation of the labyrinth of federal lawmaking, or face time with legislators and committee staff. It requires a willingness by advocates to compromise.

I recall during my near decade in the 1980s of serving on the Associate Member Board of Governors of the American Public Transit Association watching opponents agreeing to disagree. More than once a public transit agency or private sector company would announce its intention to stray from unified voice that the Board was trying to fashion and go its own way on some matter of public policy. While these diversions often caused more than a bit of consternation, it was remarkable to watch all segments of the transit industry, and in particular the recalcitrant agency or company, pull together on core issues.

Having watched pupil transportation evolve from the disparate conglomeration of self interest mentality of three decades ago to striding purposefully through the halls of Congress now, I’m struck by the progress we’ve accomplished. I’m also aware of what remains to be accomplished. I believe what we need now is a willingness to agree to core issues and accept the differences among us. Note I did not say that we need to agree on every last issue, just accept that differences exist among people of good will. Then advocacy compromise is possible.

And what is the good will that binds us together? I believe it is the commitment by everyone laboring in the vineyard of pupil transportation for the safety and security of someone else’s children — about 25 million of them every day!

At the district level, pupil transportation is a nuts and bolts activity. District transportation directors and supervisors must get the buses on the road on schedule, get the kids to school and home again safely, and work within a budget. In addition to meeting schedules and safely transporting students, private sector contractors have to meet payrolls, pay taxes and avoid litigation because losses come out of their own pockets. No state or school district is there to bail them out. State directors of pupil transportation have to meet the fickle demands of the general public and legislators who seek to meld those demands into practical, and hopefully wise, public policy.

anufacturers and suppliers have to make a profit or they are out of business. And let’s not forget employees. That’s all of us. Employees and their families depend on private or public sector jobs, often at small companies and small districts, to put food on the table, pay mortgages, plan for college education and retirement.

While the underlying motivations of the several segments within our industry are rooted in different premises, what we have in common — the drive for the safety and security of the students we transport — is irreducible.

The moment in the evolution of pupil transportation has arrived to generate a new conversation. Not one that dwells on bureaucratic differences among the industry segments. Or one that causes us to circle the wagons against perceived power plays. Instead, we need a conversation rooted in compromise that highlights our commonalities, our commitment to the core issue.