The Billings school district is in the planning stage for constructing a “bus barn” to park school buses, which will lead to long-term savings by creating a more competitive bidding process when contracting with a school bus provider.
The district’s contract with its school bus provider, First Student, will have increased 57.25% by the end of the 2028 fiscal year. The district had to agree to the contract because the company was the only one to apply for it.
“We literally had no other choice and they knew it,” Trustee Teresa Larsen said at a November budget committee meeting, calling the contract “sickening.”…