In the interest of efficiency, productivity and service, the Maine Department of Education is working to computerize and automate school bus transportation documents, moving away from the traditional paper process. To do this, we need the help of school districts.
This will simplify year-end inventory reports as well as school bus purchase and refurbishment applications. The transition will mean less paperwork for schools, as the computerized forms will be automatically pre-populated with repeating school and bus data and automatically track and report bus history and subsidy.
The Maine DOE needs help from school administrative units to make this transition possible.
To set up the bus data system, each school district must submit a list of all of its school bus vehicle identification numbers (VIN). It will be important that the list include the complete VIN (not just the last four digits as previously submitted) for each bus. The software will read the VIN and then pre-populate the details of the bus description into the school bus inventory for each school.
It is important that the VIN for each bus be accurate. The Department recommends that school business managers and transportation directors work together to cross check the VINs and verify their accuracy before submitting the VIN list to the Department.
The list is due June 22, 2012. Please email your list to Pat.Hinckley@maine.gov and use “School Bus VIN List – (your school district name)” as the subject line for your email.
The automation process for transportation documents will evolve over the year as it is tested and refined at each stage. Stay tuned as we work together to improve the processes and system.