Contract issues with local bus drivers resolved for now, as Howard County preps for start of school year

Aug. 23—The Howard County Public School System said it has come to an "amicable resolution" of contract issues raised in a lawsuit filed last fall — and later withdrawn — by owners of transportation companies that provide school bus service, according to a news release from the school system.

Superintendent Michael Martirano also recently announced that all 503 public school bus routes will be covered in time to take students to and from school at the start of the new school year Aug. 28.

HCPSS spokesperson Brian Bassett said a final version of the agreement between the school system and the 19 bus contractors would be released in early September.

The school system has agreements with 21 contractors to provide bus service to 503 total bus routes this fall. Zum Services, based in California, has 230 routes; Tip Top Transportation, based in Elkridge, has 58. The 19 other contractors, based in the region, split the remaining 215 routes.

The school board had voted to terminate all school bus contracts at the end of the 2022-23 school year, saying it wanted to open the bidding to national and regional contractors to alleviate a driver shortage. However, the board rescinded the decision in December after contractors had filed a class-action lawsuit alleging wrongful termination of their contracts. The lawsuit was withdrawn a month later.

One local bus contractor, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution from the school system, said the new agreement "allowed us to stay until 2026, but there's no guarantee that they're going to allow us to go back and bid on contracts. So, we're going to have to make some plans to do some other business or go under."

Another local contractor, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said he and his peers felt forced into the agreement with HCPSS.

"The way they did this to us was so backhanded," the contractor said, "and even through negotiations they really nickel and dimed us. They really were dealing with us unfairly, but it's almost like we had to choose — do we want to eat for three more years, or do we want to start dieting immediately? That's the best way I can give the analogy. Some of us made decisions that we probably would not want to but had to."

Of the 230 drivers that Zum needs to cover its routes, 130 have been hired, 71 certified drivers are going through the company's onboarding process, and 66 noncertified drivers should be able to complete commercial driver's license certification in time for the school year, according to an Aug. 10 memo from Martirano. Zum may deploy 40 drivers from other jurisdictions during the first week of school if its Howard workforce is not ready in time for the school year, the memo said.

Longtime bus contractor Blue Horizons Inc. terminated its contract with the school system on Aug. 9. The contractor's 29 routes, "are being covered through efficiencies and other contractors who are able to take on an additional couple of routes," Bassett said.

Elizabeth Burck, 67, who has driven buses in Howard County for 24 years, said she believes the school system attempted to make an example out of Blue Horizons Inc. owner Jared Defibaugh before he canceled his contract.

"To me, they singled him out because he was the one who was fighting the hardest," Burck said.

Defibaugh could not be immediately reached for comment. Burck said Defibaugh was a fourth-generation contractor and had been a good boss. She said she would even accept a less competitive pay rate to continue working for him.

"The county became untrustworthy," Burck said. " ... They've been jerking [Defibaugh] around for the last year and a half."

Speaking on behalf of the school system, Bassett said that two contractors chose not to continue providing bus transportation to HCPSS students, "which they were able to do as part of the resolution. All attorneys involved in the negotiations worked hard to address concerns raised by transportation contractors and the school system."

Howard County bus driver Jackie Scott, 62, who has driven in the county for nine years, said she left Blue Horizons in favor of a job with Zum before Blue Horizons discontinued its contract.

"All the things that we were told about [Zum] was not true," Scott said. "It's a fabulous company, so I'm happy to be with them."

Howard County is Zum's first East Coast operation; the company also serves school districts in California, Washington, Texas, Illinois and Tennessee.

County aims to reform student transportation services

In February 2022, the school board voted to change all school start and end times beginning in the 2023-24 school year, which "became a catalyst for reform of student transportation services," according to the school system.

In June 2022, the Howard County school board voted to terminate all existing local bus contracts by June 2023 and allow new vendors to bid on all routes. That decision was rescinded in December after 18 bus contractors filed their class-action lawsuit against the school system. On Jan. 17, the lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice — meaning it could still be refiled.

Also in January, the school board awarded three-year contracts totaling $99 million to Tip Top Transportation and Zum Services. Tip Top, an existing school system contractor, received 58 routes, while Zum, which had never previously operated in Maryland according to its website, won 230.

Then in May, local contractors submitted a proposal asking the school system for an 8% pay increase on existing contracts to help retain drivers and to help them compete with Zum Services.

The contractors said last week that the pay increase was not met. Another demand, that bus contractors would be allowed to service routes only in their immediate geographic area, was also not met, but contractors said they would be reimbursed for mileage from their lot to the route's starting point.

Michael Bowen, who operated more than 50 Howard County Public School System routes last school year, said in June that he was shocked to see Zum's contract breakdown to about $117,000 per route, when existing contractors' pleas for $85,000 minimums to help secure pay raises and benefits had been rejected for years.

According to its website, Zum will offer Howard County drivers $26-$30 per hour depending on experience. Bowen said local contractors typically pay between $21.50 and $24 an hour.

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