Negotiations & Transportation Co-Op

Lyle School District is currently negotiating with the PSE union regarding the transitioning of bus driver employment contracts to a newly established transportation cooperative between Lyle School District, Klickitat School District, and White Salmon School District (known as the Mid-Columbia Transportation Cooperative).

Here are a few important points about the transportation co-op agreement and MOU:

• All jobs are maintained as part of the proposed agreement. No one is losing their job. 
• Transportation employees will receive a 3% raise for all work dating back to September 2022. This raise is on top of the 5.5% cost of living adjustment provided to all employees. 
• Lyle bus drivers will continue to drive Lyle students and our transportation hub for Lyle will remain in Lyle. There have been assertions that drivers from outside of Lyle will be taking over driving our Lyle students to and from school. That is simply not true.
• By having our area school districts work together in a cooperative model, it saves our participating local school districts more than $220,000. 

What is a Transportation Cooperative?

A Transportation Cooperative or co-op allows local school districts to work together to maximize available resources and provide transportation services more efficiently, especially when it comes to administrative functions like gathering information for state reporting requirements.

Why a Co-Op?

The formation of a cooperative was proposed because of changes to the way the state of Washington provides funding to small school districts. Unfortunately, these changes have created a funding shortfall in transportation, meaning there is not enough money provided to schools by the state to fund all of the costs associated with transportation for students.

Our solution to this challenge is to come together with neighboring districts to share costs associated with transportation. By coming together, this allows us to maximize our resources and more efficiently serve our students. The cooperative model has been used successfully for many other services provided in the district, including special education and Information Technology (IT). 

Klickitat School District and White Salmon School District have already agreed to the cost-saving arrangement. Lyle continues to be in negotiations.

Lyle School District values our employees, we will continue to bargain in good faith, and we are committed to being responsible with tax-payer funds.

Questions? Reach out to info@lyleschools.org.