The Special Legislative Commission on Student Transportation, of which Bristol Warren Regional School District Superintendent Ana Riley is a member, recently held its last formal seating of the 2025 session, when it met to formulate a report of its findings for submission to the entire General Assembly.

The 13-member study group is co-chaired by local legislators Rep. Terri Cortvriend (D-Dist. 72, Portsmouth, Middletown) and Sen. Linda Ujifusa (D-Dist. 11, Portsmouth, Bristol). Its charge was "studying the transportation needs of students, the most cost-effective way of meeting them and what changes need to be made to the state’s laws governing the statewide transportation program."

The commission also included various other contributors from the legislature as well as academic and business communities, including Rhode Island Department of Education Chief Operations Officer Mario Carreño. Another East Bay area member, Portsmouth School Committee Chairwoman Emily Copeland, represented the Rhode Island Association of School Committees. Riley was the point person for Rhode Island School Superintendents Association.

Carreño led the April 7 discussion by providing a summary of the group's findings, which it said produced a series of costs-saving measures, pegged at some $7 million, to contend with state-wide transportation expenditures that exceed $40 million annually and those of districts, which count around $140 million a year.

The commission recommended the assembly approve a passenger van bill to increase the riding capacity of students, which is said to save at least $750,000 per year. Carreño said that total would likely increase as more of the smaller vehicles are folded into routes.

A second suggestion was for the legislature to pass a temporary license bill aimed at helping address workforce shortages. The proposed bill would allow already properly licensed and vetted drivers from Massachusetts and Connecticut to be hired to work in Rhode Island on those credentials as well.

Carreño took care to say the bill "would provide a temporary process and an expedited process for fully licensed drivers and it would not be used to circumvent any strikes or collective bargaining discussions. This is purely to help address shortages. It also will increase bidding opportunities, which will reduce the cost for not just the state, but also for our LEAs (Local Educational Agencies/school districts)."

Key to East Bay schools, a third recommendation is for the assembly to reconfigure the designated school transportation zones from the existing five to at least six and potentially nine. Under either plan to revise the sectors, one would be composed solely of just Bristol, Warren, Barrington and East Providence.

Bristol Warren is currently included in a rather expansive grouping, known as Region 3, with nearby Barrington and East Providence, but also Pawtucket, Lincoln, Smithfield, Johnston, North Providence, Providence and Cranston. Another area region composed of Portsmouth, Tiverton, Middletown and Newport would remain as constituted in any plan implemented.

The map still in use was created way back in 1977, and focused on what was then a much smaller number of career & tech education facilities around the state. There are now 14 districts which offer CTE programs, including Mt. Hope High School and the one locally is expected to grow upon construction of the new school in a few years time.

The reductions involved with the proposed zone changes would also deal with transporting private, charter along with career & tech students out of their home regions. Around 270 students in that category would be moved to new sectors, allowing for the reduction of approximately 11 buses and coming with an estimated savings of $1.1 million.

"We have presented this to the school committee association, the league of cities and towns, as well as the superintendents, who are all in favor of these more modern and compact regions that still preserve private school transportation, as well as the subsidy," said Carreño, who added "it just targets the really long and costly routes where the buses are less than half full because it's impossible to link up and drop kids off at four or five places at the same time throughout the state."

Also up for consideration were finding better methods of removing "ghost riders" — those students who sign up to take buses then do not use those seats — from the transportation rolls, improved utilization of Rhode Island Public Transit Authority routes and also earmarking some savings to create subsidies to districts for homeless and foster care students.

Riley, who was unable to attend the last commission meeting due to travel issues, previewed the agenda at the Bristol Warren Regional School Committee forum held the week prior on March 31.

Then, Riley explained to the committee that the commission was formed to make the legislature aware that transportation costs, especially their uncertain nature, are becoming "a huge burden for districts."

Riley pointed out the requirements of Bristol Warren to provide transportation for out-of-district special education and CTE students as well as those who attend private or charter schools along with any students who are homeless/displaced as being among the most weighty to forecast.

"There are variety of things that make (transportation) difficult to budget for, and the No. 1 reason is predictability," Riley said.

The recommendations emanating from the commission must now soon be put in written form and introduced into both chambers of the assembly if they are to considered during the 2025 session, which culminates at the end of June. The Special Legislative Commission on Student Transportation remains seated and will continue to meet in the future.

At the end of the commission's latest discussion, Cortvriend indicated any changes made to school transportation matters, even it they were able to taken up and passed this session of the assembly, would likely be phased over a period of years so as not to disrupt students who could be affected.

In response to inquiries made after the commission forum specific to the Bristol Warren, in her words Riley gave a "general sense" for out-of-district students, particularly those with special needs, "to protect their privacy."

According to the superintendent, Bristol Warren has a total of 43 Special Ed students, all with Individual Education Plans (IEPs), receiving transportation to 22 locations. Some 52 students residing in either of the towns are transported to private schools across the aforementioned Region 3, ranging from Barrington to Smithfield. A number of pupils are also bused to Barrington, East Providence and Pawtucket for CTE curricula not offered locally.

Of note as well, Riley said the district is responsible for transporting homeless or displaced students regardless of the current regional configuration. Bristol Warren has about 15 students in the category who are bused to Middletown, Providence, Pawtucket and Barrington along with the nearby southeastern Massachusetts municipalities of Seekonk and Fall River. Riley explained the expense is shared between the districts in which the students reside and where they attend school.