A comparative study of district owned versus contracted pupil transportation systems in Missouri.

摘要

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the characteristics of school districts as well as the opinions and attitudes of superintendents which own and operate their own pupil transportation system and districts which contract for the provision of transportation services.;Procedures. From the population of 233 Missouri public school districts which either owned and operated or contracted for transportation services, 120 districts were randomly selected on the basis of their Average Daily Transported (ADT) and method of management for transportation services. Respondents completed a survey instrument designed to elicit demographic information as well as their opinions and attitudes concerning 14 variables considered important factors when selecting a method of transportation service. Specific information for 9 other variables relating to the current method utilized was obtained from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Relevant data for two research questions were presented in tables by group and overall. Four other research questions were answered by testing four hypotheses utilizing multivariate and univariate analysis of variance and the Chi-square test of independence.;Conclusions. The tendency for shifts and/or fine tuning fluctuations among and between the groups for transportation services appears to be slowing. Regardless of the method utilized to provide transportation services there was an equally high level of satisfaction with the current system between the groups. Both groups of respondents were equally less satisfied with the costs associated with their current method.;Of the 14 variables studied, safety and efficiency were the two most important variables. They received more consideration by districts' officials selecting a method of pupil transportation services.;Large urban and metropolitan districts with over 2,000 pupils have not fully made use of computers for routing purposes as a cost savings measure. This is evidenced by the low 8.33% rate of utilization.;Generally, districts which contract for transportation services are more affluent than those districts which own and operate their system.