A study of the effects of multiple system variables on the relationship between total school district operating costs and transportation costs in South Carolina

This study examined the relationship between the total amount of money school districts in South Carolina spent to operate annually and the amount the districts spent on transporting (busing) students. It attempted to determine how that relationship was affected by the inclusion of eight additional district characteristics in the analysis. The quantitative study examined data from both state-operated and privatized school district transportation systems.; The stepwise regression analysis using SPSS software identified a strong correlation between total operating costs and transportation costs. District characteristics determined to most impact this relationship were districts' transportation cost per minute, number of buses used, and excess transportation expenditure.