Superintendents in the Upper Peninsula are pushing state legislators to allow 15-seat passenger vans to transport students to extracurricular activities. Currently state law doesn’t allow vans, other than buses, with over 11 passengers (including the driver) to transport students.
Superintendents from 44 public school systems in the UP signed a letter pushing for the change. The superintendents are members of the Michigan Association of School Administrators.
They argue the change would allow their school systems, who often have smaller student bodies, to save money on fuel and maintenance for field trips and extracurricular activities.
“Given our ongoing challenges in student transportation, we believe this measure is necessary to ensure students have equitable access to extracurricular opportunities,” the letter reads.
Robert Vaught is the superintendent of DeTour Area Schools, a district in the eastern UP.
He says his district, of around 100 students, often doesn't need full size 72-seat buses.
"We've asked them to consider going back to allowing us to use 15-passenger vans so that we don't have to put four kids, five kids, six kids in a full-size bus and run them 60 miles across to another district. It's costly to do that," he said. “I've got 27 kids in my elementary school, and if we want to go to Lake Superior State, we get invited to do stuff up there, I've got to fill up a big bus.”
The superintendents argue that the vans would allow staffers with chauffer’s licenses to drive, which would keep bus drivers on their normal routes and address a struggle to find bus drivers.
“All the legwork and class work required, it's difficult,” Vaught said on hiring new drivers. “We're limited by numbers up here, obviously because we live in a small community.”
Critics of the proposal say the vans are more hazardous than school buses and pose a rollover risk.
In 2006, state law was amended prohibiting vehicles other than buses, with over 11 passengers from transporting students.
“A vehicle, other than a school bus, with a manufacturer's rated seating capacity of 11 or more passengers, including the driver, shall not be used to transport pupils to or from school or school-related events,” the statute says.
The superintendents argue that advancements in car safety make 15-passsenger vehicles appropriate for usage.
A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration overview on 15-passenger vans says that “thanks to electronic stability control, rollover is no longer a danger for newer 15-passenger vans.”
Ultimately, Vaught says that safety and budgeting don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
“Not only do we want to keep our kids safe, but we also have to be fiducial to our taxpayers in saving money for the district."
