CSEA members protest on East Main Street, near the Middle School, prior to the school board meeting

PORT JERVIS – The Port Jervis City School District Board of Education Thursday night approved a $59 million 2009-2010 academic year budget which includes the privatization of student transportation.

While the budget is subject to a public vote on May 19, the new transportation plan will take effect. The only difference is the length of the initial contract; the school board awarded a contract to a private company Thursday night.

There are 100 district employees who work in the transportation department and are represented by the CSEA. Some may get picked up by the private company, but they would lose in the end, said union spokeswoman Jessica Ladlee.

“It’s lower wages, minimum benefits,” she said. “Right now, we have workers here who have invested many, many years with the district, but they are not quite at retirement age, so it puts them in a very tough position because they had years in the state retirement system but they are not quite where they need to be in order to receive a full pension.”

The union had hoped the school district would have placed the transportation issue on the May 19th ballot as an issue separate from the budget.