Chicopee school transportation, FY2027
Introducing
Shorter routes. Neighborhood schools. Fuller buildings. The goal: up to $5 million saved every year, without cutting a single teacher or raising taxes.
The cost
Per student, per day
What Chicopee pays, on average, to bus one student to school and back for one day. Every student who needs a ride will keep it. This is about whether we're paying a fair price for it.
The state calculates every district's average cost per student for all transportation inside the district, using the same method for each city.
A higher number isn't automatically wrong. Geography, route design, and how many students ride can all raise a district's average. That's why it deserves a careful second look before anyone draws a conclusion. Source: Mass. DESE District Transportation Rates (FY24, FY25, FY26). Per day = annual rate ÷ 180 school days.
The goal.
Money Chicopee could put back into:
It is a goal, not a predetermined conclusion. The order asks for an independent audit; the numbers decide.
How we get there
$5 million is about a third of the $14.65 million bus bill. Here is why that target is realistic, and the four places an independent audit would look.
Pick a yardstick. See what Chicopee would save on buses alone.
Rough estimates. Rates come from the state's average cost per student; we apply the gap to the whole $14.65M transportation budget. Inflation uses the U.S. Consumer Price Index, 2018 to August 2026 (+33.4%).
Children on Fairview Avenue ride about 5.7 miles to Litwin School when Bowe School is about a mile away. Fewer miles means fewer buses and drivers. Every student still gets a ride.
Boston redesigned its bus routes with MIT researchers, ran 50 fewer buses, and saved about $5 million a year. (PNAS, 2019)
A colleague who served on the School Committee said our bus contract draws only two or three bidders and called it "a monopoly." Less competition usually means higher prices.
The state Inspector General found 67% of districts got zero or one bid, and recommends bidding early, teaming up with neighboring towns, and requiring vendors to show their costs. (Mass. Inspector General)
When schools start at staggered times, one bus can run two or three routes each morning instead of one. Same students, same service, fewer buses sitting idle.
The researchers who redesigned Boston's routes found that adjusting bell times could cut the fleet by another 15%. (PNAS, 2019)
Some schools are not even half full. Combining two underused buildings saves a whole building's heating, utilities, maintenance and overhead, plus the bus routes that serve it.
Chicopee has done this before. The former Kirby School became housing and went back on the tax rolls.
State grant · February 26, 2026
$2,390,000
Awarded to Student Transportation of America for Chicopee Public Schools to convert part of the bus fleet to electric. (MassCEC)
The grant covers part of the fleet, not all of it (The Reminder). The test is whether it saves taxpayers money, not just the contractor.
More is available now: MassCEC’s Round 5 offers up to $2 million per application through January 29, 2027, and its advisory services provide free fleet planning.
These are yardsticks, not promises. The order asks for an independent audit to find the real number, with timelines and options. Final decisions stay with the School Committee.
Independent audit
The review of routes, bus contracts, enrollment and buildings must be carried out by an independent auditor with no stake in the outcome. Not the City Council. Not the School Department reviewing itself. An outside, impartial look is the only way every parent and taxpayer can trust the numbers.
The plan
When colleagues said "our hands are tied," they were talking about the wrong budget. Tap each card to see the law.
Saving money on transportation takes nothing out of a classroom.
What efficiency looks like
Children on Fairview Avenue are bused across the city to Litwin School. Bowe School is about a mile from their homes.
Schematic distance comparison, not a map. Sending them to Bowe still gives them a bus, just a shorter ride. Taxpayers pay for every extra mile.
Half-empty buildings
Some buildings are not even half full.
Combining a half-empty building with another saves an entire building's worth of:
Setting the record straight
"I could never vote for this"
The final version changed the wording of the order, not the subject. The disagreement was never about whether this conversation should happen. It was about how many words the order used.
See it for yourself
Full meeting from ChicopeeTV on Vimeo. Every timestamp on this page points to this recording and was checked against its captions. Tap any moment to jump there. Open this moment on Vimeo ↗
The promise
Efficiency does not mean elimination. The review is about the structure around the people, not the people.
The Council voted unanimously for a joint meeting of the School Committee and City Council on redistricting. That is the partnership this order asked for, and I welcome it.
Before that meeting, I'm requesting
The School Committee and the City Council, at the same table, working from the same facts. The joint meeting is also a chance for every parent and taxpayer to be heard. I'll share the date as soon as it is scheduled.
Colleagues, members of the School Committee, school employees, parents, and taxpayers of Chicopee:
I would like to take a moment to briefly clarify what the order consists of, and what it does not.
The City Council's effort through this order is not an attempt to interfere with the operations of the School Department, to draw any attendance boundary policies, or to take away any resources from our students or educators.
This order simply asks the School Committee, Superintendent, and School Department to undertake a comprehensive review of the following: enrollment, school boundaries, building utilization, transportation, and any consolidation opportunities. We ask that these be evaluated, and that any resulting short-term and long-term costs be considered.
The reason is simple: our current transportation trend is not sustainable.
In Fiscal Year 2018, Chicopee spent approximately $7.29 million on school transportation. In the Fiscal Year 2027 budget, we anticipate costs of approximately $14.65 million. That is a 100 percent increase in these expenses alone in less than a decade.
Transportation for our special-education students is designed and built for specific purposes. As these highly functional vehicles have become more complex, their costs have risen. These costs were once approximately $3.74 million; they have now grown to more than $9 million. I want to be very clear about what that number means. We have a population of special-education students who need customized instruction, and their parents rely on us.
Our students deserve every service, accommodation, transportation option, and educational opportunity to which they are entitled. Our responsibility is to determine how we can provide these services in the most efficient and sustainable way.
It is important that everyone knows this is not about balancing the budget on the backs of our teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, custodians, or other school employees. Our educators and staff are the unfailing individuals delivering care with special regard, and they are the mentors who provide dedicated services to our children every day.
What I want to examine is the structure around the people, not the individuals: the transportation, buildings, boundaries, routes, duplication of effort, and overhead.
We must also consider Chicopee's larger financial future, for the greater good. Our ability to raise property taxes is not unlimited, and I want to be proactive before taxpayers are ever told that higher taxes are the only solution.
Be it known: I would never support a Proposition 2½ override (a vote to raise property taxes beyond the legal limit) to solve problems that we have the ability to address through responsible planning, restructuring, and efficiencies. I would rather make responsible decisions today than ask taxpayers for more money tomorrow.
That is why I would like this process to be pursued with a goal of $5 million in sustainable annual savings through these efficiencies. This figure is a goal, not a predetermined conclusion.
If we can responsibly achieve these savings through better transportation routing, improved use of our buildings, appropriate consolidation, and other operational reforms, we can achieve savings of $25 million over five years and $50 million over ten years. This gives Chicopee a greater ability to invest in roads, sidewalks, parks, infrastructure, capital projects, and our very important stabilization fund (the City's savings account for emergencies and future needs).
We also need to examine whether some students might be able to attend schools closer to their own neighborhoods. If we have an under-enrolled building, and children are being transported across the city while appropriate capacity exists closer to home, we should study whether there is a better way.
Any change must protect class sizes, educational programming, special-education services, student safety, and the quality of education our children receive.
Legally, our roles are clear. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 71, Section 37 places educational policy authority with the School Committee. The Council is not looking to usurp that authority in any way. We are asking for an independent, comprehensive review with the support of the School Committee and School Department, one that offers options, identifies potential savings, establishes timelines, and works collaboratively with us. Final decisions regarding attendance boundaries and implementation remain with the School Committee under Massachusetts law.
And I would like to speak directly to our colleagues in the School Department and on the School Committee:
When you asked the City Council for support, we listened and provided that support. When our schools needed investments and appropriations, we worked with you and provided funding where needed.
Now it is we who are asking you to work with us.
This will be the City Council partnering with the School Committee. This will be Chicopee working together.
Let's protect our students.
Let's support and protect our educators.
Let's look honestly at the numbers.
Let's examine our buildings, transportation system, enrollment, and boundaries.
And let's find efficiencies in the system around our classrooms, so we can protect both the quality of education in Chicopee and the taxpayers who make that education possible.
Councilor Samuel R. Shumsky
Ward 6, Chicopee City Council
Claim vs. record
Unedited excerpts from the ChicopeeTV recording, with captions. Watch the full meeting ↗
