Plumas Unified School District

The PUSD notified each school administrator at the beginning of the school year that there would be a 75% cut in athletic funds. Portola High School elected to meet this requirement by eliminating funds for transportation to athletic events.

Parents of Portola basketball players, both boys and girls, were verbally informed that they would be responsible for transporting their student athletes to athletic events at other schools.

Student fundraisers and parent donations raised money for transportation to athletic events.

A coach deposited the funds in the Portola High Associated Student Body (ASB) account.

Once placed in an ASB account, the money was under the jurisdiction of the school district, not the parents. (Educational Code 48930 through 48936 governs the purposes and activities of the student body funds.)

On one occasion parents, following PUSD procedures, arranged to pay for a PUSD bus to transport the basketball team. However, at the last minute, parents were notified that no PUSD drivers were available. The parents transported the students in private vehicles.

The parents reasoned that chartered private buses would be more dependable. A parent paid for the charter buses with a personal credit card and was reimbursed from the ASB account.

The California State Employees Association Chapter 193 (CSEA) filed a grievance on behalf of the bus drivers, claiming that the trips should have been made in PUSD buses. Since they were not, the drivers did not receive overtime pay they would otherwise have earned. The CSEA 193 contract states that work traditionally performed by classified (uncredentialed) employees must continue to be performed by classified employees.

The PUSD settled the grievance and awarded the bus drivers a total of approximately $1,500. The bus drivers' grievance resolution was paid out of the Portola High School ASB account. The PUSD has since reimbursed the Portola High School ASB account and the amount of the grievance settlement- will be deducted July 1, 2004 from the 2004- 2005 Portola High School athletic budget.

The Director of Personnel Services on March 3, 2004 issued a memo that reads, in part, "...no PUSD students are to be transported on a chartered bus unless CSEA 193 has agreed in writing to the chartering of such a bus." This memo was sent to all high school principals and athletic directors.