SJM 12
Page 1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
A JOINT MEMORIAL
REQUESTING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO STUDY HOW
SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION FUNDING FOR SALARIES AND BENEFITS IS
BEING SPENT.
WHEREAS, each year, the legislature appropriates money
to the public education department to fund to- and
from-school bus transportation in public school districts
statewide; and
WHEREAS, current law allows school districts to provide
school bus transportation to students through the use of
school bus service contracts, either with individual
owner-operators or private school bus contractors or both;
and
WHEREAS, by public education department rule, a person
who owns only one bus and who drives the bus on a full-time
basis is, as a driver, considered an employee of the school
district, while a person who owns more than one bus is
considered a self-employed private school bus contractor who
hires the contractor's own employees; and
WHEREAS, since 1994, the money distributed through
school bus service contracts by the public education
department to private school bus contractors has included a
thirty-five percent reimbursement rate for employee benefits
paid by a private school bus contractor to employees; and
pg_0002
SJM 12
Page 2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
WHEREAS, private school bus contractors may provide up
to thirty-five percent employee benefits for their employees;
and
WHEREAS, the public education department reports that
fewer than ten percent of the current private school bus
contractors provide any form of employee benefits for their
employees;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE
STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public education department, the
legislative education study committee and the legislative
finance committee, in collaboration with public school
district administrators and representatives of private school
bus contractors, be requested to examine the funding of
school transportation contracts to ensure that the employees
of private school bus contractors have full access to the
wages and benefits available to the contractor; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the public education
department report its findings and recommendations to the
legislative education study committee by October 1, 2008; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
transmitted to the secretary of public education and the
directors of the legislative education study committee and the
legislative finance committee for appropriate distribution.