A frustrated School Committee has voted to explore whether school bus vendors are willing to freeze their quoted prices on leases of school buses while the School Department explores whether money can be made available to lease some new buses.

The School Department sought and received bids for the leases of seven school buses in preparation for Town Meeting in October. Prior to the meeting, school leaders thought town leaders had agreed that the town should lease buses while it studies whether to outsource busing or continue to have the School Department operate school transportation.

But before voters could weigh in, Town Administrator Mark Andrews requested that all leases be taken off of the Town Meeting agenda because the leases could not immediately be financed.

Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch told the School Committee at its November 16 meeting that a funding source for the leases - much needed to replace aging vehicles in the school bus fleet - may become available after all.

"I was told today that the town administrator recognizes that we need [buses] now, that we can't wait until next fall for vehicles, and that there is a plan being developed so that by the end of December there may be a way to fulfill the lease," Rabinovitch said.

Rabinovitch said three bidders responded to the School Department's request, but he did not say what the bids were or where the money for the leases may come from.

Should funding become available, Town Meeting would still need to approve the leases.

"My understanding is that [the town] will be asking to have a special Town Meeting," Rabinovitch said, later adding that he would ask the vendors "to hold their price for 60 days because I am led to believe that the money will come available within that time."

Rabinovitch said that if the money does not materialize, the schools' transportation department would, by that time, have enough in its revolving account - funds generated from the transportation department itself - to enter into the leases.

The decision came after a lengthy discussion about a proposal to complete another analysis of school transportation costs.

Earlier this month, Andrews proposed that a group of graduate students complete an analysis of how much it costs the school district to run its transportation department and how much it would cost to subcontract the operation to a private vendor, essentially taking the town out of the busing business.

The Board of Selectmen voted in favor of the idea, with the condition that the School Department not enter into any leases or otherwise purchase school buses while the study was being completed.

The superintendent and the School Committee weighed in on the matter on Wednesday.

"I believe we have studied this to death," said Rabinovitch. "In my office, I have three separate reports done by three separate committees ... that say it is cheaper for the town to run its own transportation department."

He said he supported the plan for the student study only "in the spirit of trying to work together."

School Committee members were visibly frustrated with the idea.

"We might as well send this up to Barack Obama to do a study next," said School Committee member Kenneth Fontes. "We've showed over and over and over again that it's cheaper to do this in-house. ... Let the Board of Selectmen worry about running the damn town and let us worry about running the school system."

Member Rhonda Veugen said that she was concerned with what she saw as yet another delay in the acquisition of the vehicles. The town has been discussing how to get the school buses it needs for nearly two years.

"If someone wants to do an additional study ... that should be at the same exact time that we're addressing our immediate needs," Veugen said. "We need buses right this second. Right this second."

The state of the school bus fleet became a hot topic in early 2010 when resident Ellen Begley, now a selectman, requested bus safety records after she heard media reports that the school buses were in a state of disrepair.

Begley received assistance from the Board of Selectmen in obtaining the safety records after being dissatisfied with the School Committee's response. She subsequently presented reports that indicated that, of the 328 school buses inspected between 2008 and 2010, 190 failed and 147 were taken out of service.

School officials have steadfastly maintained that no children have been put at risk because of mechanical problems with buses, but the School Committee formed a Transportation Advisory subcommittee in May of 2010 to examine the district's busing operation.

That committee was suspended in September of last year, much to the frustration of some of the members, who said the committee's work was not done. Fontes, who chaired the subcommittee, explained at the time that a new school transportation manager needed a chance to take the reins of the department.

Late last year, the town and the School Department put out separate and different requests for busing proposals for an outsourced operation.

The School Department, which currently owns, maintains, and operates all the buses needed to transport students, issued a request for bids that could allow them to outsource all these activities to a private company.

The town issued its own request for bids to find a vendor to own and mechanically maintain the large school buses that are the core of the school fleet - leaving the school department to continue to handle special education and athletic transportation, employ bus drivers, and do all the bus scheduling.

The town received just one bidder. The School Department received four bids - the lowest was $2.4 million. The School Committee later voted not to award the bid to any vendor because the lowest bid was still significantly higher than the roughly $1.4 million the School Department pays to run its own transportation department.

Since then, the topic has been frequently discussed but never resolved.

"I don't want to have an 'us-verses-them' attitude," Veugen said Wednesday. "I feel like over the last year, that's exactly what has delayed a decision."