While student GPS tracking may be an unfamiliar idea to parents in your school district, student tracking software has been proven to increase safety for children who are under your school district’s care. Bus tracking and school bus routing software not only ensure your students are safe, but they produce a significant return on investment (ROI) when used to their potential.
A student tracker may seem like a luxury for school districts that are already focused on paying for teacher salaries, textbooks and extracurricular programs. However, it’s in the interest of your students’ safety, not to mention your budget, to look into student tracking software sooner rather than later. Read on to learn four ways you cut costs by implementing student and bus tracking software.
1. Reduce Driver Liability
Although you may take great care to hire honest, reliable bus drivers to transport your students, you reduce driver liability significantly when students are accounted for with bus and student tracking software.
When administrators know where school bus drivers are at a given moment, and when drivers know they have backup when faced with re-routing around a closed road, a trusting relationship develops on both sides. Bus tracking provides proof that a driver is where he or she is supposed to be, so in the event of an emergency, there is definitive evidence that your school bus driver was not at fault.
2. Minimize Your Number Of Buses
One of the ways software for mapping school buses saves the most money is by reducing the number of buses in your fleet through route efficiency. When taking into account vehicle maintenance costs, daily fuel costs, insurance and a driver’s salary, taking just one bus off the road could save your school district as much as $50,000 per year.
Given these beneficial savings, the ROI on bus routing programs and student GPS tracking is worth the initial investment for most administrators seeking to cut costs.
3. Student Attendance Reimbursements
While each state uses a different formula to determine reimbursement rates for student attendance, the fact is that an increase in your government reimbursements is a significant way to recover the costs of investing in student tracking software.
In some states, rates are determined by taking a monthly snapshot of student attendance on the bus and in school and then calculating an average. Other states take a one-time snapshot on one day of the year. However, if you are tracking your buses and students with software, this ensures higher attendance rates by making sure drivers have accurate student rosters and students don’t perpetuate chronic attendance problems.
4. Student Transportation Cost Reimbursements
Software for mapping school buses helps school districts receive reimbursements for transportation costs by making your routes the most efficient. One criterion the government examines is the number of loaded vs. unloaded miles buses travel on the way to and from school.
For example, bus routing programs ensure that drivers pick up a student early in their trip so you are not penalized for travel costs with no students on board. Although achieving a 100% reimbursement rate is impossible, bus routing programs produce a 30-60% return on costs through government reimbursement.
Two Times The Benefits
Between cost reductions and reimbursements, the ROI on student and bus tracking software has clear benefits for any school district seeking to make bus routes more efficient.
It may come as a surprise that there is another option for school administrators to accomplish both improved student safety and decreased expenses. Rather than choosing either safety or their budget, school districts have the option of making the smartest decision by investing in a system that pays off.
Ready to learn more about how to cut costs with an investment in student and bus tracking software? Read an in-depth guide on how student GPS tracking may benefit your school district.
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