By JOSEPH B. NADEAU

A statewide transportation contract for out-of-district special education and non-public school busing services could begin to be phased-in next fall in several Blackstone Valley communities.

If the General Assembly finalizes enabling legislation in the upcoming legislative session, area school districts could see themselves sharing the same busing contract for those two transportation needs as soon as next September.
Under that legislation, the system would be implemented in phases, with the northern Rhode Island communities of Woonsocket, Central Falls, Cumberland, North Smithfield, North Providence and Smithfield consolidating their services in the fall of 2009.
To create a statewide contract, the state would likely mandate participation in the new system and that could eliminate the reliance on the individual contractors now used by districts. A company like Valley could bid on the state contract but also would be competing with many larger companies to win that service.
Neighboring Massachusetts has already adopted a regional approach to such services and has found it to provide significant savings over individual contracts, he noted.
The state believes a consolidation of services would also work here in Rhode Island, he said.
While starting with just out-of-district special education services and services that public school districts are required to provide to private school students in their communities under state law, eventually all students transportation services may be covered by the statewide system.
The state is currently in process of seeking competitive bids on the new state system but would still need authorization from the General Assembly to put it into place, Elliot Krieger, a spokesman for the Department of Educational, said Friday.
No action has been taken on the making the system mandatory, Krieger noted, but districts have been told to consider that potential if they are currently negotiating any new transportation agreements.
 “All new contracts should contain a provision allowing participation in the statewide contract for out-of-district special education and non-public school transportation,” he said.
Following the first phase, Burrillville, Coventry, East Greenwich, Exeter-West Greenwich, Foster-Glocester, Johnston, Scituate, and West Warwick, Pawtucket, and Barrington, Bristol-Warren, Middletown, Newport, Portsmouth, and Tiverton, would follow in September 2010. The remaining communities, including Providence, Lincoln, and East Providence, would join in the fall of 2011.
The expected change could help with the Woonsocket Education Department’s ongoing budget crisis, according to Woonsocket Schools Superintendent Robert J. Gerardi Jr. and members of the School Committee. Gerardi told members of the School Committee that might result in a projected $300,000 savings in what the local district is currently paying for those services.
In Woonsocket, school officials say they are very happy with the service the current busing contractor, Valley Transportation of Front Street, has given the district and that raises questions over what the change would have on Valley’s bid for an extension of that relationship when its current ends next June. The company, which provides general transportation services along with special education and non-public busing for the district, would have work the change into new agreement, according to Gerardi and committee members.
It could also bid with other area companies to provide the state services as group or individually.
 “We are watching it closely because we are very happy with the service we have,” Gerardi told the committee while providing it with an update on the pending change.
If the new legislation is approved, Woonsocket may have little choice in deciding who provides out-of-district and non-public school transportation, he noted.
School Committeewoman Linda Majewski said there will be plenty of questions about the state plans as the process moves forward and for now she plans to withhold judgement on the change until they are answered.
The time children might ride on a bus under the new system was questioned by members of the panel during the School Committee’s discussion and there was also concern over potential service changes that could result from the contractor’s office being based out of town.
 “At this point, I need more information,” Majewski said while noting she has not yet formed an opinion on the change. The General Assembly is expected to hold hearings on the legislation during the upcoming session and that might help to answer questions about the proposed statewide system.
School Committee Chairman Marc A. Dubois said he also is taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the change although he does like the potential for savings in district costs.
The committee has been “very happy” with Valley Transportation’s service to the district and hopes the company will bid on the services, he said, but there is also the potential for the change to be mandated and the district left with no choice in accepting it.
 “We’re going to take it one step at a time,” he said. “If the General Assembly passes it and mandates it, then we are going to have go along with it,” he said.
If the consolidation does result in savings, however, Dubois said that would be a step in the right direction for the state as a whole.  Statewide contracts for professional services, healthcare and purchasing could help districts save on costs they now face individually, he noted.
 “Hopefully that’s the way we will be going in the future. It would be nice to have all these services consolidated,” he said.