MUSD begins process of bringing back school buses

By Doug Spoon, Editor

It will be a long process, but the Menifee Union School District is moving forward in its efforts to restore bus service to a large number of its students.

Currently, MUSD has a small number of buses that transport special education students and homeless students to school. The district has not provided bus service to the general student population since 2017, when it ended its agreement with Hemet Unified School District. That sparked outrage from parents of students -- some of whom who live two miles or more from their elementary or middle school.

At the time, district officials cited escalating costs as the reason for discontinuing the bus service. Now, however, MUSD has the opportunity to apply for a new grant that could enable it to receive an additional 19 buses.

The school board last week approved participation in the Zero Emission School Bus and Infrastructure Incentive Project. Senate Bill 114 allocates Proposition 98 funds to the California Air Resources Board and California Energy Commission to fund grants to local education agencies for zero-omission school buses.

There is no guarantee that MUSD will be accepted into the program, as many school districts are expected to apply. Even if the district is approved, it could be two years or more before the program is implemented here because of a shortage of buses and the necessary bus drivers, said Marc Bommarito, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services.

If MUSD receives the grant, the financial impact could be a boost of $13-16 million to the district’s transportation program. Meanwhile, Bommarito said MUSD has a small number of buses from a previous grant that will be used in a pilot program at one elementary school later this school year.

The district plans to use one or two buses to provide transportation to Freedom Crest Elementary School from the area near Hans Christiansen Middle School, Bommarito said. That distance is one of the longest students have to travel to school in the district.

“We wanted to kick this off at the beginning of the school year, but we didn’t have the bus drivers,” Bommarito said. “There will be a selected number of [student riders] who will have to complete the paperwork. We’ll try it with one bus, and we can add another if there is the demand.

“That’s one of the needier communities we serve. There is no good walking or biking path over the hill. A large segment of that community is struggling with transportation.”

The start date for that program will depend on getting a sufficient number of bus drivers trained, Bommarito said. Even without the additional 19 buses, MUSD faces a shortage of bus drivers and is seeking applicants.

Applicants must be 18 or older and have a Class D license “with passenger endorsement” training. Interested persons can apply at the following link:

MUSD bus driver application

“This is definitely a want for us,” Bommarito said. “We want to be able to serve the community. It’s a challenging market to find bus drivers. California has made the process harder to get qualified and get the proper amount of training.”

Bommarito said if the district gets enough qualified applicants, it will make arrangement to provide the training.