Correction July 18, 2011 — The story below about a firm that helps school districts manage their bus fleets used the firm's previous name. It's now called Advanced Management Software.

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At least once a week during the school year, Jason McClune, transportation director for Solanco School District, gets a call from a parent saying that one of the district's 65 buses or vans missed a stop.

Sorting out whether someone overslept, doesn't know the truth or isn't telling it can be difficult. But a small GPS-enabled key fob the district is testing could provide details and clarity in such situations.

"If the driver was there on time, I can say to the parent, 'I'm not sure what happened, but according to the GPS unit, we were there on time,'" McClune said.

Solanco has tested two of the small GPS Plus units from Advanced Management Software, a Lancaster company that makes software which helps districts track their buses and report mileage for state reimbursement.

The GPS device, which costs about $125, can be used on a key chain to monitor location, distance and speed of buses. The GPS units link up with BusTracks software that Solanco has been using since 2001.

"If it can make our jobs easier and save money, then those units are worthwhile," McClune said.

The GPS Plus system is the latest rollout from the company that assists some 73 districts in the state that use BusTracks, including a handful in Lancaster County.

The six-employee company hopes that with the GPS units it can replace the need for drivers to manually record mileages. It also could do away with time sheets and give the district a better handle on where its buses go, how fast they go and how long it takes them to do their jobs.

And with more detailed information, school districts can get a bigger reimbursement from the state for their transportation costs.

"You start adding up the nickels and dimes, and you see it amounts to a great deal of money," said Dick Sinclair, the company's co-founder.

Advanced Management Software began 27 years ago when Sinclair saw an opportunity to help school districts manage their buses. He created the first version of BusTracks, which has evolved with input from customers. It is now on version 17E.

From the beginning, Sinclair said, his system was tailored to the rules that govern how school districts in Pennsylvania get reimbursed by the state for their transportation costs. These rules are complex, Sinclair said, but the payments can be lucrative for school districts.

For example, Solanco spends about $3 million annually on transportation and can get 55 to 65 percent of it back.

But Sinclair said that many times schools don't maximize their returns.

For example, Sinclair said, districts often don't include special event bus runs or activity buses that take students home following after-school activities.

And districts may not be taking advantage of the state's reimbursement system, which bases the payment on the bus mileage of one day selected by the district each month.

With BusTracks, it is easy to spot the day with the highest mileage and use that to maximize the reimbursement.

Sinclair said the company, which has a small office in an office park along Columbia Avenue, has seen a recent spike in activity because of the school budget crunch.

"It is an easy solution to fire teachers or to reduce programs; it is harder to do what we do and tweak the system in order to maximize your reimbursement," Sinclair said.

Another way the company improves school finances is to help districts avoid adding new buses. In the Elizabethtown Area School District, officials were looking to redraw school boundaries in anticipation of the fall opening of Bear Creek School, which will house grades four through six. District officials used the BusTracks mapping software to determine new routes and bus runs, ultimately coming up with a plan that didn't require a new bus.

"That is why we were able to make these changes and not add any additional buses," said George Longridge, the district's business manager.

Michele Balliet, the district's acting superintendent, said the detail in the BusTracks maps helped them see the effect on specific neighborhoods and create a new busing system that doesn't have kids in neighborhoods going to several schools.

"Redistricting is never easy. Change can be difficult," Balliet said. "With the type of information we were able to get with BusTracks, it allows the board to make informed decisions about what the redistricting would look like."