The Philomath School Board on Thursday night unanimously approved a contract with First Student Inc. to provide student transportation, finalizing the district’s switch to a new bus company after a 15-year relationship with Mid Columbia Bus Co.
The board approved the contract on a 4-0 vote, with one member absent. The action follows the board’s selection of First Student in April, when members accepted the company’s proposal and directed Superintendent Susan Halliday to begin contract negotiations.
The five-year contract takes effect July 1 with the new provider in place for the start of the 2026-27 school year. The district’s contract with Mid Columbia expires at the end of the current school year.
Halliday told the board the early stages of the transition have gone smoothly, with First Student already on the ground in Philomath.
“It has been a pleasure to work with them thus far,” Halliday said. “They’ve been at the city park for the last two days doing onboarding with folks there and it’s been a couple of busy days.”
The superintendent said the company has also begun technical work to connect its systems with the district’s records.
“They’ve been working with us on integrations to the student information system so we’ll actually have bus route numbers in the student information system,” Halliday said.
Halliday said the district’s attorney reviewed the contract and that the district pushed for added specificity in certain provisions.
“We’ve been pleased with the relationship. Our attorney has reviewed the contract,” she said. “We added some things in some places that we really wanted it more specific. … and so we really feel good right now about where the contract has landed.”
First Student emerged as the top scorer over Mid Columbia during the district’s request for proposals process. An evaluation committee reviewed both proposals across criteria that included cost, safety records, fleet age and maintenance, driver recruitment and retention, and family communication.
District officials had pointed to First Student’s safety and training programs and its technology package — including a proprietary system called HALO that provides 360-degree visibility and integrates AI cameras, predictive analytics and real-time data — as advantages over the competing proposal.
Transportation costs will increase under the new contract, though Halliday previously said the two proposals were financially comparable and that the state reimburses the district for 70% of home-to-school and educational transportation costs. The district plans to incorporate the increased expense into its 2026-27 budget.
Mid Columbia has held the district’s transportation contract since 2010 when it succeeded First Student. First Student had provided busing for nine years prior after acquiring the contract from Olson Bus Co., which served Philomath students for 41 years before selling its contract in 2001.
