Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) is in a bit of hot water after a recent audit found the district failed to properly vet its contract with BusPatrol, a vendor used to supply school-bus camera enforcement. According to the September report, M-DCPS allegedly used a revenue-contract exemption to dodge competitive bidding and lacked documentation of vendor research.
According to a report from the Miami Herald, the audit revealed M-DCPS used a loophole to avoid a competitive bidding process by instead applying an exemption to allow revenue-generating contracts under $50,000 to go forward without formal importunity.
Auditors also detailed that Miami-Dade County did not establish sufficient coordination with M-DCPS, BusPatrol, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Clerk of Courts before the rollout.
But internal problems go back further.
Through multiple reports, authorities found as many as 120,000 violations had been issued by December 2024, largely with fuzzy information, including incorrect citation numbers, inability to contest, wrong penalty amounts, and even threats of license suspension.
Seeing all the troubles, Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz decided to suspend the program in April 2025. Despite its trouble in one of the country's largest school districts, BusPatrol still functions in Hillsborough and Lee Counties, with a rollout expected soon in Broward County just to the north.
The baseline of problems will, however, somewhat ironically, lead to a second audit, program effectiveness, coming soon. One must think it won't have a passing grade, either.
Regardless, that's not before BusPatrol made out with a pretty penny.
Per the Herald report, the program collected 70% of citation revenue, with the other 30% going to the district. Overall, BusPatrol garnered $32 million since May 2024, with just under $10 million ($9.7M to be exact) relayed back to the district.
But Florida isn't the only state having problems. The Herald also detailed troubles in New York and Pennsylvania, including ethics concerns on Long Island and transparency problems in Allentown, specifically with its contract release to the public.
