A student prepares to board a First Student bus at Quail Run Elementary School in this file photo from June 2011.

The Lawrence school district could save money by providing its own busing, but administrators are recommending the district continue to rely on an outside company for student transportation.

The Lawrence school board will have the ultimate vote in the matter, and the main question is whether providing busing is worth the trouble.

“I’ve run my own buses in previous districts,” Lawrence Superintendent Rick Doll told the board at its meeting Monday. “…It’s a real pain, and so it is worth something. And I don’t know what that number is, you’d have to decide that.”

The district currently contracts with First Student for transportation services. A cost analysis of student transportation services was done because the district’s five-year contract with First Student expires at the end of the school year.

There are about 2,300 students enrolled for bus service, which includes 86 buses on 109 routes, according to the district report. Another five-year contract with First Student would be about $25.7 million, or an average of about $5.1 million per year. The district report found that it would cost the district about $4.9 million per year to provide the service itself.

“Obviously, there can be, without a doubt, some savings,” said Administrative Services Director Ron May, who presented the report. “Not necessarily in the millions up front; it’s going to be small amounts over time.”

Another advantage of the district providing its own busing is that about one-fifth of the yearly cost — such as money spent purchasing or maintaining buses — could come out of the district’s capital outlay fund, a tax-levied fund. If the district contracts out the service, all payment must come from the district’s state-supported general fund.

Doll said the advantage of being able to use capital outlay funds, thus freeing up money in the district’s general fund, could become a bigger factor if the district’s state funding is cut.

“The advantage here is to get out of your general fund,” Doll said. “We don’t want to do buses — it’s a real pain — but if the financial situation just continues to get worse and worse, you might not have any choice.”

May said the main challenge for districts that provide their own busing is hiring, training and retaining drivers, because the position has high turnover. In addition, May said bus driver positions could potentially pull from the same pool of people who fill hard-to-fill positions in the district, such as janitorial and food services.

The third option is to continue to contract with First Student, but have the district provide the facility and services involved in storing buses, which could save the district about $800,000 over the five-year contract with First Student. The board will vote on whether to approve a renewal of the five-year contract with First Student at its next meeting.

In other business, the board:

• Approved a request to designate a portion of Clinton Park on the Lawrence Register of Historic Places. About one-third of Clinton Park is part of the Pinckney Elementary School grounds and is owned by the district, requiring the board’s approval for the designation. The remainder of the park is owned by the city.

• Reviewed a report on the district’s program to help special needs students transition to jobs after high school. The program, Project Search, has served about 50 students since its inception five years ago. Last year, the program’s graduates had a 100 percent employment rate, according to the report.

The school board’s next meeting will be April 25 at the district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.