NORTHAMPTON CO., Pa. – The Northampton Area School District Board of Directors received a presentation on the district’s busing transportation program during a special meeting Monday night at the high school.
Earlier this year, the district planned to implement a new hub-based transportation model for the ’26-’27 school year but later withdrew the proposal saying it would be revisited for the next school year. The plan was pulled because of objections from parents.
On Monday night the district’s presentation included an overview of their transportation plan, applicable laws related to transportation, charter, parochial and private school transportation, along with overall expenditures related to how NASD transports students to their educational facilities.
Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik said changes could be implemented for the 2027-2028 school year. He said the district’s goal was to comply with legal requirements while maintaining services and reducing costs.
Laws do not require a school district provide identical routes, identical ride times, or identical transportation methods. The presentation noted NASD, or for that matter any school district, is permitted to implement a transportation hub, and kindergarten through 12th grade shared ridership.
NASD transports more than 4,000 public school students daily, in addition to over 400 charter school students and more than 150 special education students. The district is projected to spend $490,000 this school year on diesel and unleaded fuel for transportation. NASD is scheduled to spend $11.4 million during the ’26-’27 school year on vendor transportation costs.
The district is facing financial challenges and a board directive has been for the administration to reduce costs. Kovalchik said that to implement that directive, the district has identified underutilized runs, a plan to consolidate stops, stagger bell times, increase walking distances, reduce the time buses are running without students, and optimize routes by eliminating left turns, U-turns and bottlenecks.
Changes utilized this year included combined stops, further walking distances, parent opt-out survey and combined “like” runs. The cost impact will be ascertained at the year’s end.
Options for next year presented to the board is a hub, which streamlines out-of-district travel, reduces bus stops, consolidated routing, fills bus capacity and is built for large areas.
NASD offered four hub options Monday night. The first would have public, non-public and charter students travel to a central transfer location. This option would save the district the most money – more than $500,000 estimated.
A second option would have non-public and charter students travelling to that central transfer station. This plan would save the district more than $250,000. A third option would produce no hub, but would reroute runs based on geography along with school arrival and dismissal times. A fourth option would maintain the status quo.
NASD noted that a hub model would reduce service duplication while maintaining similar ride times.
The first option would feature a secondary transportation hub, while the second option would utilize an East Allen hub.
During Monday’s public comment section, speakers acknowledged that while the hub would save NASD money, it would come at an expense to students, who they said would be subjected to lengthy bus routes every day.
One resident said the district created the financial situation through their own malfeasance and were attempting to rectify their mistakes with students and taxpayers paying the price.
For example, one woman said the district spent millions of dollars on a new elementary school and a new administration building at the same time and that neither was needed. She also said NASD did not have the money to pay for them.
She added that the district has more highly-paid staff than needed based on current and projected enrollment, and that the district is facing a budget collapse and serious deficits for years to come because of it.
The board took no formal vote transportation vote Monday night.
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