Objectives

To determine whether the State Education Department (Department) is monitoring school districts’ compliance with safety training requirements for school bus personnel and instructors to help ensure safe transportation for all pupils; and whether the Department is monitoring school districts’ compliance with school bus monitor and attendant qualifications. The audit scope covers the period July 1, 2016 through March 4, 2020 and information provided by the Department through May 14, 2020.

About the Program

The Department is responsible for overseeing pupil transportation services provided by public school districts (School Districts) to approximately 2.3 million children each day across the State. The 2016- 17 statewide cost of providing these services was approximately $2.8 billion, of which $1.7 billion was covered by State aid.

The Department sets qualification requirements for school bus drivers, monitors, and attendants; and it has established safety training requirements to help ensure safe transportation for all children. As part of these requirements, the Department administers the School Bus Driver Safety Training Program, through which instructors provide school bus drivers, monitors, and attendants with required initial and annual refresher trainings. The Department also contracts with the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute (PTSI) to provide resources and training and to maintain databases of training and school bus accident information. Based on risk and verified complaints, the Department also asks PTSI to perform site record reviews of School Districts or busing contractors.

Key Findings

• Overall, we determined the Department could further enhance its efforts to monitor School Districts’ compliance with its requirements and, consequently, that it does not have assurance that school bus drivers, monitors, and attendants across the State are qualified and have completed the required training. Without training, employees may not be aware of the proper procedures or what to do in the event of an emergency. For example, during our audit, we learned of an incident at one of the School Districts that resulted in a monitor being charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child because of alleged non-action during a bullying incident. Transportation personnel at the School District stated required trainings had not been administered for any school bus personnel.
• We reviewed driver, monitor, and attendant files at School Districts and busing contractors, finding a significant amount of required Department safety and discrimination/harassment training documentation was missing. Lack of communication between the Department, PTSI, and School Districts and busing contractors resulted in an unclear understanding of the Department’s requirements.
• During the first three years of our scope (July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019), the Department utilized only a small fraction of the compliance record reviews that their contract with PTSI afforded them. Department officials stated that, historically, they have ordered PTSI to conduct record reviews only for School Districts and busing contractors with ongoing problems and complaints. While SED has increased the number of maximum reviews in their current contract, as of yet, no strategy has been developed regarding how to use those additional reviews.
• PTSI’s school bus accident database is incomplete and does not account for all reportable accidents statewide. The information from the database is used to identify trends for when accidents are likely to occur and identify those who are most at risk. Inaccurate and incomplete information negatively impacts the Department and PTSI’s ability to use this information to effectively develop future safety training programs.
• Because of the varying degrees of knowledge pertaining to requirements, and inconsistent protocols among School Districts and busing contractors, the Department cannot be reasonably assured that all transportation supervisors are actively monitoring employees for reasonable suspicion of drug and alcohol use prior to driving their routes. While this is not explicitly the Department’s responsibility, the safe and efficient transportation of children is. Department officials agreed and stated they will continue to expand their reach in this area.

Key Recommendations

• Develop and implement a risk-based method to identify School Districts and busing contractors that warrant review to fully utilize all site record reviews allotted in the PTSI contract.
• Work with School Districts and busing contractors across the State to ensure they are made aware of Department training record requirements.
• Work with the New York City Department of Education and other jurisdictions across the State to ensure that all reportable accidents are reported to the Department and PTSI.
• In conjunction with the Department of Motor Vehicles, develop and implement policies and procedures to standardize monitoring of drug and alcohol compliance for drivers, monitors, and attendants.