The first responsibility of any school board or district is to
spend every dime possible on the classroom. The goal is the
smallest possible classes, the best possible teachers and the most
up-to-date facilities.
The first responsibility of any school board or district is to spend every dime possible on the classroom. The goal is the smallest possible classes, the best possible teachers and the most up-to-date facilities.
That was already a difficult goal for the Hollister School District, which is on a tight financial leash held by County School Superintendent Tim Foley. A state takeover looms if HSD fails to solve a $6 million multi-year structural deficit.
HSD made reaching that goal more difficult when it signed a bus contract in June with Tiffany Transportation Services that added $129,500 a year to its deficit.
The district canceled the first round of bids on the contract in February, saying there were “problems with the bid packets.” It did so only after opening the bids and discovering that long-time contractor Tiffany had been outbid by Gilroy Unified School District.
The HSD re-bid the contract in June with an expanded bid packet that included more information about such things as insurance, but the added language was largely technical. This time Gilroy didn’t bid and Tiffany won, although the winning bid was $129,500 higher annually than Gilroy’s first bid.
The process has left many unanswered questions:
– If the bid packets were faulty, then why weren’t those problems evident before the bids were opened and it was revealed that Tiffany had been outbid by Gilroy?
– Why did HSD declare Gilroy’s bid “illegal” despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary? Some 50 California school districts have cooperative transportation agreements.
– Why didn’t the school board and district officials try to find a way to work with Gilroy through a memorandum of understanding for the sake of saving money, rather than work aggressively to find ways to nullify Gilroy’s bid?
We have no reason to believe Tiffany Transportation Services did anything wrong to get the contract. And GUSD can be faulted for not re-bidding in the second round if it was so sure it was on firm legal ground.
But until Hollister School District officials address these questions, a cloud will hang over this contract.
Given the district’s financial problems, Foley should conduct his own investigation. Whatever cuts are made to balance the budget, the administration should take an extra $129,500 a year hit to minimize the affect of this bus contract on classroom instruction.
