Kenai Peninsula school board votes Monday on $78.3M home-to-school busing deal

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education votes Monday, Nov. 2, on a seven-year busing contract worth $78.3 million with MV Transportation Inc., doing business as Reliant. District staff recommend approval. The board meets at 6 pm in Soldotna.

MV's first-year price for home-to-school routes, $9,985,620, exceeds the district's entire Student Transportation Fund for 2026-27 by $2,236,092. That fund is budgeted at $7,749,528. The figures cover different school years: the new contract would not start until July 1, 2027.

The transportation fund runs on state money alone, with no transfer from other district funds. A September finance report shows the same budget figure and $2,583,176 received so far this year. The fund spent $7,674,269 in 2022-23, $8,357,597 in 2023-24 and $7,937,366 in 2024-25.

MV's cost proposal sets 38 regular routes at $825.68 per route per day in the contract's first year, rising to $1,139.30 by year seven. It sets 18 special education routes at $1,343.88 a day, rising to $1,439.96. The annual total reaches $12,362,684 by year seven, about 24% above the first year. Each year's total includes a fixed facility cost, and the second year adds a $337,261 start-up charge.

Other costs stack on top. Extended school year service, three weeks of June busing for students with special needs who require it, costs $411,227 in the first year. Activity charters run $72.02 an hour, rising to $89.17. Stand-by rates run $52.82, rising to $63.68. The bid assumes 8.5 miles per gallon and fuel at $3 a gallon. Each month, on home-to-school miles only, the district pays the difference when fuel costs more, and the contractor credits the district when it costs less.

In June, the board raised 2025-26 transportation spending to $8,081,974, citing "an increase in fuel differential costs due to ongoing fluctuations and elevated fuel pricing in the current market." The district covered the gap with a $50,000 transfer from its main operating fund and $93,244 from the transportation fund's reserves.

The contract pays the contractor "subject to adequate funding from the Department," and allows the district to terminate or reduce its scope "if available funding is reduced for any reason." District records do not say how the district would cover the first-year difference.

The contract covers Funny River, Kasilof, Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna and Sterling; the Homer area, including Anchor Point and Ninilchik; and Seward, Moose Pass and Cooper Landing, though Cooper Landing school will not need service in 2027-28. It runs through June 30, 2034, with an option to renew for up to five more years.

The award would appear to change operators. An Oct. 6 district notice to Mountain View parents named Amy Burson as senior location manager for First Student, working alongside district transportation supervisor Melody Best. First Student was the only other bidder. The district's scoring recap gives MV 337.52 points and First Student 304, with MV marked as the award. Records do not say whether First Student holds the district's current contract, or for which areas.

The board reviews the contract during a work session earlier Monday. That session also takes up draft 2027 legislative priorities that call for full state reimbursement of school transportation costs.