Four days ahead of their June 11 Board of Education business meeting, Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) released the agenda. Among items on the consent agenda is the renewal of their contract with BusPatrol, which provides cameras for stop-arm infractions on the buses. As reported in the Greenbelt News Review February 5, 2025 issue, in FY 2023 the revenue and expenditures of the School Bus Stop-Arm Camera program showed a gross profit of $8,354,818.80 from violations. From that amount PGCPS was making a net income of $597,444.77, dwarfed by BusPatrol’s share of over $6.6 million. The BusPatrol contract was flagged by a 2025 state audit of PGCPS that found the contract process “improper” and without assurance PGCPS had obtained best value.
Impact on County Budget
In 2023, a Prince George’s County budget overview memo noted an increase of $4.9 million over the previous year’s budget, saying, “The increase is primarily due to increases in operating costs to support the new School Bus-Arm Camera safety program in partnership with Prince George’s County Public Schools,” according to the memo’s Budget Overview. “The $6.5 million increase in the School Bus Stop Arm program expenditures in FY 2022 is a result of the agreement between the Prince George’s County Public School System and BusPatrol (the vendor). BusPatrol is paid a contracted fixed ‘Technology Fee’ of $400 per month for each school bus that is equipped with a BusPatrol Camera. The fee is continuous with the operation of the program,” it states in the Facilities and Operating Revenues and Expenditures section.
State Audit Findings
In 2025 the Financial Management Practices Audit Report from the Department of Legislative Services of the Maryland General Assembly contained several findings including “PGCPS improperly used an ICPA (intergovernmental cooperative purchasing agreement) to procure a school bus camera system contract resulting in a lack of assurance that it obtained the best value.”
The five-year, renewable contract began on April 8, 2021, says the Audit report and “as of February 1, 2024, the county has only received $5.2 million (or 17 percent) of the $30 million in citation revenue for the first 27 months of the program’s operation from April 8, 2021, through December 31, 2023.” The audit found that “PGCPS did not prepare a written assessment of the benefits for using the ICPA as required by State law,” didn’t document research into other available options and “could not support how it determined certain payment terms, which were different from the ICPA.”
The audit found PGCPS made a monthly disbursement of $400 per bus as a “technology fee” from gross citation revenue, followed by a further 60 percent that went to the vendor, despite the fact that the ICPA had a 50 percent split in citation revenue and no technology fee. “PGCPS did not have support for how the technology fee was determined by the vendor or why it was necessary in addition to the revenue sharing,” said the audit. “As a result, PGCPS essentially procured its own unique contract with the vendor without a competitive procurement process and assurance that it obtained the best value.”
Meanwhile the state’s audits of other Maryland local education agencies (LEAs) found other vendors exist for these services. At least one LEA has awarded a similar contract using a
competitive bidding process and others have included negotiations of the financial terms (such as revenue sharing and other fees). “The $400 monthly technology fee was higher than the fees paid by other LEAs we know used this vendor’s camera system, which ranged from $85 to $350,” said their analysis.
The News Review asked PGCPS Senior Public Information Specialist Lynn McCawley if anything had been done to address concerns flagged in the state audit that this was a no-bid contract that was not competitive in its revenue sharing, for example soliciting other bids. McCawley responded, “Using a cooperative contract like TIPS is permitted under both Maryland law and PGCPS policy, so ‘no-bid’ via cooperative is not automatically a violation. A cooperative agreement allows for PGCPS to enter into contracts with vendors who have participated in a competitive bidding process with another public entity.” TIPS (The Interlocal Purchasing System) is a cooperative purchasing program that enables government entities, including schools, to use “pre-competed” contracts for technology services.
Modifications
The contract is now up for renewal and appears on the consent agenda for the Board of Education’s upcoming meeting. A consent agenda is one on which items are voted on as a group, without individual discussion. The Board Action Summary prepared for the agenda item states, “The Board of Education accepts the recommendation of the Interim Superintendent of Schools to enter into the BusPatrol Contract Renewal.” It notes that it is not a new contract but is a modified one. The modifications are not shared as they are on some other similar items on the agenda. The benefits of the contract are noted to be: (1) proven reduction in dangerous driving behavior, (2) direct student safety improvements, (3) additional protection for students and staff and (4) community safety impact. There is no mention of the revenue from the program. If approved, the contract would be for five years.
McCawley told the News Review that modifications included “a new, detailed interior-camera video request-and-delivery section with defined request types, delivery timelines, an access log, and notice requirements” and “a data-ownership statement that all data generated is the sole and exclusive property of the District, with BusPatrol permitted to use captured imaging and data for training purposes only to implement the contract.” McCawley made no mention of modifications to the profit-sharing arrangement.
The Board of Education meeting at which the contract is scheduled to be voted on as part of the consent agenda will be held on June 11 at 7 p.m. at 14201 School Lane, Upper Marlboro.