Audit flags 22 unregistered school buses in Springfield

Town Board · Meeting of September 23, 2026

Springfield audit committee finds 22 school buses still unregistered for excise tax. The city auditor's office told the committee 12 of 14 recommendations from a 2024 review of First Student's roughly $24 million transportation contract have been implemented, but 22 of an original 44 flagged buses still lack city tax registration. Assistant Operations Director Rick said First Student is re-registering the vehicles; Councilor Victor Davila called it "a lot of buses" and said he'd follow up offline.

A separate review found 179 student activity accounts totaling about $373,000, with a $6,000 unreconciled cash discrepancy at Central High and a $5,800 vendor payment routed through a personal credit union account instead of the city's warrant process. School Committee member Rosa Valentine objected on the record that First Student has been the only bidder on every transportation contract category for years: "Don't tell me that, Pat, because this is not my meeting, and you know how I feel about this."

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 2,156 words

Source: the Town Board meeting of September 23, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.