Understanding School Transportation

Schools buses parked with magnifying glass over one with a lightbulb and dollar sign

Each school day, Spring Grove Area School District buses travel hundreds of miles across our community to transport students to schools, specialized programs, and more. Behind the scenes, a lot goes into making this happen safely and efficiently, including complex contracts with transportation providers. This page outlines how transportation works in our district, what impacts costs, and why no two contracts are alike, even when districts look similar on paper.

Five elementary students smiling, giving thumbs up in front of school bus.

Why This Matters

We want families and taxpayers to understand what goes into running a safe, compliant, and cost-effective transportation system. Comparing our services to another district, without knowing all of the details below, is like comparing apples to oranges. Even districts that look similar on paper in size, population, or geography often face very different realities. That’s because each district’s student needs, infrastructure, and legal transportation obligations are unique.

We remain committed to prioritizing student safety, maintaining compliance with all state and federal regulations, and being responsible stewards of public funds.

What’s in a School Transportation Contract?

School transportation contracts are legally binding agreements between a school district and a bus contractor. These contracts outline:

The number and types of vehicles needed
Routes and schedules
Staffing and safety requirements
Equipment standards such as cameras, GPS, etc.
Maintenance and facility operations
Special transportation services
Extracurricular activity trips
Payment structure and penalties

But what really shapes the cost and availability of services? That’s where things get more complex. Expand each tab below to learn more.

Timing of the Contract

Since COVID-19, the student transportation industry has changed drastically. What used to be a fairly stable system has become more expensive, more competitive, and more difficult to staff. These changes have affected every school district, including ours.

Some of the biggest changes include:

Nationwide driver shortages that continue to impact staffing
Higher vehicle and equipment costs due to supply chain issues
Increased fuel prices and insurance rates
Fewer transportation providers as many companies left the industry

Spring Grove entered our current transportation contract in the middle of these challenges. Despite the difficult timing, we were able to secure a strong partner and continue offering safe, reliable service to our students every day.

Mileage Isn’t Just About District Size

Spring Grove spans roughly 93 square miles, but size alone doesn’t tell the story. What truly impacts costs is how many miles we drive daily, and why we drive them. That includes:

Transporting students to non-public schools and specialized programs.
Adapting to our region’s rural roads, hills, and dispersed neighborhoods that can increase wear and tear on vehicles and extend both the loaded and unloaded miles.
Running routes that vary based on student-specific needs.

Specialized and Legally-Mandated Transportation

Beyond general education routes, SGASD is responsible for a significant amount of specialized transportation, each with its own scheduling, vehicle, and staffing complexities. Some students legally require transportation accommodations, significantly affecting contract scope and cost.

Special Education Placements

For the 2024-25 school year, 48 students are transported to 14 different special education placement schools both in and outside of SGASD. Destinations include Conewago Valley, Dallastown, Red Lion, York, Lancaster, and East Berlin.

Due to the nature of these students’ needs and the distances involved, transportation often requires:

Specialized vehicles, such as wheelchair-accessible vans or vans with specialized restraint seating.
One-on-one aides to assist during transport.
Certified School Nurses for students with medical conditions that require monitoring en route.
Dedicated vans when ride-sharing is not feasible due to medical, behavioral, or scheduling needs.
Each student must be transported according to the unique calendar and daily schedule of their placement school, requiring extensive routing coordination.

Homeless and Foster Student Transportation

Under the McKinney-Vento Act, schools must transport homeless students to their school of origin, even if they now live outside the district. This is not optional. There is no guaranteed state/federal reimbursement.

Some years, SGASD might transport just a few homeless students. Other years, the number spikes mid-contract with no additional funding. For the 2024-25 school year, SGASD has transported up to 49 homeless or foster students, with some residing outside the district (e.g., Shrewsbury, East York, Red Lion).

In many cases, students require dedicated vans and long-distance travel. The district works with other Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to share transport responsibilities, but when that’s not possible, SGASD must provide round-trip transportation and later invoice other districts or coordinate with the Lincoln Intermediate Unit (LIU).

By federal law, SGASD must continue to transport these students to maintain their educational stability, even when they’ve moved outside the district.

Non-Public School Students

For the 2024-25 school year, 191 students attend 21 different non-public schools. By state law, we are required to transport them to schools that could be up to 10 miles outside the district, including in Gettysburg, Red Lion, and York.

Each non-public school operates on its own calendar and daily schedule, requiring SGASD to run transportation even when SGASD schools are closed. These schedules also lead to asynchronous routing, increasing the number of buses and drivers needed.

Early Intervention Transportation

SGASD is obligated to transport Early Intervention students placed by the LIU. For the 2024-25 school year, 10 Early Intervention students are currently transported to five locations, including Bermudian Springs High School, the Western PA School for the Deaf (Hershey), and others. These students also often require dedicated vehicles, and their schedules overlap with district hours, complicating routing.

Facilities and Other Cost Factors

A district’s transportation costs are also affected by infrastructure and logistics. SGASD does not own a transportation terminal. This means our provider must lease, operate, and maintain its own facility, costs that are factored into our contract.

Additional Cost Factors

Deadhead Mileage: Drivers often travel 15–20 minutes before picking up the first student.
Unloaded vs. Loaded Miles: Contractors charge for both as fuel and labor are still required without students aboard.
Number of School Days: The total number of instructional days in a district’s calendar directly affects the cost of a transportation contract. More days of service mean more driving time, fuel, maintenance, and labor, especially when considering that Spring Grove also provides transportation for non-public, special education, homeless, foster, and Early Intervention students on days when our schools may not be in session.
Vehicle Age, Availability, and Reimbursement: Due to manufacturing delays, newer buses are harder to acquire, which inflates prices. However, the Pennsylvania Department of Education provides higher state reimbursement for newer vehicles to encourage safer, more efficient, and environmentally responsible fleets. This means that while upfront costs may be higher, districts can recoup more of those costs over time.
Driver Shortages: A nationwide shortage of CDL-certified drivers raises wages and limits contractor capacity.
Insurance and Liability Costs: Post-COVID legal and insurance changes have increased contractor expenses.

Letters RFP on wood blocks on top of keyboard

Ensuring a Fair and Open RFP Process: How the District Solicited Bids

Spring Grove Area School District conducted its Request for Proposal (RFP) process for student transportation services in 2021. The RFP was publicly posted on our website and directly shared with transportation companies across south-central Pennsylvania to encourage broad, competitive participation.

Four companies submitted proposals, and Krise Transportation offered the most competitive bid. As a result, SGASD entered into a 7-year contract with Krise Transportation, covering the 2021–2028 school years.

How is SGASD Doing?

Given the challenges facing the school transportation industry, SGASD’s contract with Krise Transportation stands out for its strong value and exceptional reliability. The partnership ensures fully staffed routes, on-time pickups, and eliminates the need for “double runs” due to driver shortages. Krise Transportation has also proven to be a community-minded partner, actively supporting SGASD and the broader community through event participation, donations, and dependable daily service. In short, we didn’t just select a vendor—we gained a partner. Krise Transportation supports not only our day-to-day operations but also our values as a school district committed to students, staff, and the community.

Why Does SGASD Have the Highest Total Cost in York County?

The first chart below reflects total transportation costs of York County school districts for the 2022–2023 school year, which is the most recent data reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). SGASD has the highest total cost in the county. The second chart developed from polling York County school districts shows the 2025 daily bus rates, and as you can see, SGASD is the third lowest in the county.

Our transportation costs are not the result of a poorly negotiated contract, flawed bid process, or overcharging by our transportation provider. In fact, our daily rates for buses and vans are among the lowest in York County.

So how can SGASD have one of the lowest daily bus rates, but the highest total transportation cost?

2022-23 Total Cost by School District by SGASD

2025 Daily Bus Rates by SGASD

Let’s Dig In: It’s About Who We’re Transporting and Where

It’s not just how much we pay per day, it’s how many students require transportation, how far they travel, and what kind of support those trips require. That brings us to specialized transportation, which includes services for students experiencing homelessness, attending out-of-district placements, or needing door-to-door service due to an IEP. These trips often involve longer distances, multiple vehicles, additional personnel, and individualized scheduling.

Understanding the Cost of Specialized Transportation

SGASD is committed to meeting the specialized needs of our students, but doing so comes with significant logistical and financial challenges. To better understand how SGASD compares to other similar-sized districts in York County, we looked at seven key categories of specialized transportation among three other school districts, Red Lion, South Eastern, and Dover, for the 2024-25 school year. When you look beyond general education routes and into specialized transportation, the picture becomes clearer. SGASD transports more students in high-need or logistically complex categories than many of our peer districts, which drives up our total cost.

Homeless Students Transported – 49 students: SGASD ranks highest among the four districts, more than double the next closest (Dover with 24). These routes are often long and cross district lines, as we’re required by law to transport students experiencing homelessness or in foster care to their school of origin, regardless of where they temporarily reside.
ELL/ESL Students Outside the Attendance Zone – 18 students: SGASD is the only district among the comparison group reporting students in this category. Unlike some other districts that provide English Learner services at each elementary school, SGASD currently centralizes all ELL/ESL instruction at Spring Grove Elementary. This means students who live closer to other schools (Paradise Elementary and New Salem Elementary) must be transported across the district to receive support. While this approach helps us concentrate staffing and resources, it also increases transportation costs. Other districts may avoid these transportation costs by incurring higher staffing costs instead. Each strategy has tradeoffs, and districts make decisions based on what best meets the needs of their students and staffing models.
Special Education Placements – 48 students: SGASD again ranks highest, slightly above Dover (46) and nearly three times the number transported by Red Lion (16). These students are placed in programs outside of SGASD because their needs cannot be met in-district, requiring long-distance and often individualized transportation services.
Non-Public School Transportation – 21 schools / 191 students: SGASD transports students to 21 non-public schools, 20 of which are located outside the district, the highest number of out-of-district non-public schools among the four districts. We also transport 191 non-public school students, the second highest total behind Red Lion. These routes span multiple towns and counties, adding layers of complexity and cost due to distance, scheduling, and fewer students per route.

While SGASD transports fewer students overall than Red Lion (3,979 vs. 5,387), the type and complexity of our routes, especially in categories where we lead the county, are what drive costs higher. Simply put:

More specialized needs = more complex and costly transportation.

Types of Specialized Transportation by SGASD

Committed to Efficiency, Responsible Stewardship, and Continuous Improvement

SGASD uses Transfinder, a school bus routing software, to help design and evaluate our transportation system. This tool allows us to analyze ride times, stop locations, and student assignments so we can make data-informed decisions that enhance both safety and efficiency. Still, we recognize the need to continually balance high-quality service with responsible spending. That’s why this summer, we’re taking a closer look at how our system operates, and where we can improve. Here are several areas we’re actively exploring:

Analyzing bus stop density: We will review the number and distribution of bus stops to identify opportunities for safe consolidation, shortening routes and helping keep runs within the contracted 4.5-hour daily driving limit.
Reviewing van usage: Specialized and one-off van routes will be evaluated to determine whether they can be consolidated, combined with existing routes, or transitioned to other vehicle types.
Optimizing non-public school transportation: We’re exploring whether more non-public students can ride existing bus routes rather than separate van trips, especially in areas where overlap already exists.
Evaluating a transportation terminal site: We will assess the viability of building a transportation terminal on district-owned property. This could reduce “deadhead” miles (when buses travel empty to start routes), improve dispatch efficiency, and strengthen oversight of operations.
Exploring decentralized EL/ESL services: Currently, all English Learner services are provided at Spring Grove Elementary, which increases transportation demand across the district. We’ll be studying whether EL support can be offered at each elementary building, allowing students to attend their home schools and reducing transportation time and cost.
Assessing ride times and bell schedules: We will analyze whether minor adjustments to start/end times could help improve route efficiency, potentially reducing overlaps and extending driver availability across runs.
Exploring cooperative/shared routes: We will continue discussions with neighboring districts to explore whether any shared or cooperative routes (especially for out-of-district special education placements or non-public schools) could reduce costs for all parties involved.

In Summary

SGASD’s transportation program is designed to serve students first, including those with complex or non-traditional needs. While that can result in higher total costs, we are committed to making smart, student-focused decisions that also improve cost-efficiency.

We appreciate your support as we work to optimize this essential service.

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