At least a $63 million decision is on the table Monday night for the Shawnee Mission School Board involving student transportation.
There are four bids to provide school bus service over the next five school years for the district.
It all started in 2015 when the district's current provider, First Student, went to the Shawnee Mission Board and asked for a raise for drivers from $14 an hour to $16.50 an hour.
The reason for the request was to attract more drivers.
First Student and other commercial transportation providers have been facing a nationwide drivers shortage.
The board agreed to that request but also decided in November as an option in that deal, to open up bids for transportation services to get a competitive market look at the taxpayer money being spent.
First Student re-submitted what's turned out to be the lowest bid compared to three other competitors at $63.1 million.
At stake for First Student is not only the contract but also the jobs of roughly 280 drivers and monitors who currently work Shawnee Mission's nearly 1200 runs every school day.
"It's definitely heavy on our hearts and it's a tough decision and I don't actually envy the board in making this decision," said Chris Coyle of First Student. "But I think that we provided a very competitive proposal being the largest transporter in school buses in North America," he said.
The other bids are from DS Bus Lines at $63.7 million, STA at $77.4 million and MV Transportation at $81 million.
The 41 Action News Investigators reached out to the Shawnee Mission School District prior to the vote, but no one was available to talk.
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