An Elgin Area School District U-46 union is upset district officials are looking into outsourcing bus service for special education students.

U-46’s transportation union officials pleaded with the school board Monday night not to solicit private transportation companies for services, which could affect more than 200 drivers and assistants. The district is accepting bids from bus companies until Tuesday, union officials said.

“There is no way on Earth that an outsourced bus company with a revolving door of drivers and assistants from all across Chicagoland will provide you and District U-46 students the safe and reliable services that they have rightfully come to expect,” said Cathy Wyzykowski, UniServ director for the Illinois Education Association, who works with U-46’s transportation union. “You’ve got the best drivers and assistants in the world right here, right now.”

District and transportation union officials have been in contract negotiations since March.

Wyzykowski warned that seeking outside bids at this juncture could violate state laws and regulations.

“Laws governing the outsourcing of noninstructional services address much more than just matters concerning financial reporting and reimbursement,” she said. “These laws also address comparability of benefits, which employees must receive from an outsourced employer.”

Any private transportation company selected by U-46 must provide its employees comparable wages and benefits to that of in-district employees, including medical, vision, dental and life insurance; sick, personal and holiday leave; and retirement benefits, she added.

“We do not believe any bid from a subcontractor will provide any level of comparable benefits which meet the bare minimum requirements demanded by the law,” Wyzykowski said.

Shawn Bernhardson, transportation union secretary, said union officials have ideas on how the transportation department can work more efficiently and effectively to save the district money while maintaining quality service. She urged the board to continue negotiations in good faith.

“We have already sacrificed $1.5 million in the last negotiations and reduced wages for newly hired employees, and more senior employees received barely a 2 percent wage increase over the five years of the last agreement,” she said.

The district’s transportation department has roughly 387 professional drivers, assistants, dispatchers and mechanics.

“It may be tempting to push supervision elsewhere, but once you do you will never again have that kind of quality control and decision-making authority that you rightfully have today,” said Heather Weiss, union president.

Any decision on outsourcing transportation services will come at a future school board meeting after seeking input, U-46 CEO Tony Sanders said.