Illinois district’s multimillion-dollar plan to switch transportation providers raises cost, logistics concerns

Amid budget cut conversations, Rockford Public Schools (RPS) in Illinois is considering a new transportation provider – which will charge even higher fees than the district’s current contractor, WIFR reports. 

“It’s odd that they’re just willing to change – and change for a company that costs more money,” said one mom, who requested anonymity. “Doesn’t make sense.” 

District administrators have recommended switching to Zum, “the most expensive option for the district regarding 3-year totals,” according to WIFR.

“The consideration arrives a week after Superintendent Ehren Jarrett disclosed plans for budget cuts reaching $15 million as it negotiated a contract with teachers.”

‘Uber model into the school transportation sector’

Zum, which touts its attendance at the 2024 Davos World Economic Forum on its website, is “incorporating an Uber model into the school transportation sector,” journalists observed.

“Besides operating an all-electric fleet, the Silicon Valley company developed an app for student transportation.”

Although the district described Zum as having “zero shortages across all operations nationwide,” WIFR’s research suggests otherwise.

“A Slate article from 2023 called Zum’s debut in Howard County, Maryland, ‘chaotic.’ Writer Lizzie O’Leary spoke with Daniel Zawodny from the Baltimore Banner, who documented 20 cancelations of Zum buses on the first day of school.”

The article goes on to quote Zawodny detailing the company’s shorthandedness in meeting demand: “Before school started, Zum actually had to fly 71 drivers in from Spokane and Seattle to handle these routes.”

If such a situation were to repeat itself in Rockford, students with special needs may be at an extra disadvantage, according to the mom speaking with WIFR.

“(Some) children … can’t verbally express where they live,” she said. “I would probably have no other choice but to try to trust Zum at first due to the fact that I don’t have any other way to get him to and from school, but I’d be nervous about it.”

For the last year, the mom has sent her special-needs son to school with Sunrise, an area company bringing “students with special needs, preschoolers and hundreds of others to school each day,” according to WIFR.

“It’s been a lifesaver,” she told reporters. “They’ve actually made it to where he can be picked up at my job.”

However, Sunrise alerted the community of the district’s recommendation to switch to Zum in a Feb. 16 email.

“Our obvious concern is for the students we have been transporting for years,” the email said, noting Zum was the district’s highest bidder by $2.7 million per year.

“The second concern is why are they willing to put the money into a transportation company, but not the teacher’s, para’s or even school bus drivers?”