After much public scrutiny, the school board voted against accepting an Environmental Protection Agency grant that would fund the purchase on an electric school bus.
The board voted 3-2 against the purchase at a special meeting Sept. 9.
The district had selected Georgia-based manufacturer Blue Bird for the electric vehicle, which would have arrived in town next year.
The bus’s $423,000 price tag exceeded the $378,000 in federal grant money, meaning the school district would have had to dip into its reserve fund to cover the remaining $45,000.
In addition to covering the funding gap, the district would also have been responsible for constructing a building to store the vehicle and keep it heated. The building alone would cost somewhere between $58,000 and $93,000, according to Maintenance Director Kevin McCallister.
In total, the district would have needed to draw between $103,000 and $138,000 out of its reserve fund. Already, this fund is expected to drop by half to cover the district’s operating budget revenue shortfall for the 2024-2025 school year, Superintendent Bill Burr said.
The electric bus figures were a point of confusion at the Sept. 9 meeting. Some board members believed the district would need to spend just $50,000 to construct a bus barn while other board members believed the total figure to be higher.
Board members turned their heads and talked privately with each other at one point in the meeting, trying to figure out how much the bus was actually going to cost in total and, more importantly, how much of its own money the district would need to contribute.
McCallister and Burr, per board policy, are only permitted to volunteer information when a board member requests it. But because neither the president nor any board member requested such information explicitly, neither was able to provide the board with a definitive total cost estimate.
Members were still uncertain of the pricing when Board President Dave Wilson called for a vote on the purchase. Only he and board member John DeRuyter voted yes, and the bus purchase failed 2-3. Angela Allen, Brittani Robbins and Elizabeth Roundtree voted no.
Allen explained her dissenting vote, citing concern about both public opinion and financial tenability.
“I didn’t think it was financially feasible for the school district in the long term,” Allen said. “I also heard a lot of negative feedback from the community.”
DeRuyter cited a need to move off the district’s pupil transportation contract as his reason for voting to accept the EPA grant. DeRuyter said that if the district owned its own transportation, it could prove to be a major money saver in the long run.
Under the district’s current contract, Taylor Transportation owns and operates a diesel-fueled school bus. The contract is in its final year.
After the meeting, Wilson admitted the board’s confusion on the costs. “Not everyone had the same number for the cost,” he said.
The board vote appeared to be in line with the public’s social media opinion of the bus purchase.
Twenty-eight people commented on the Sentinel’s Facebook post announcing the bus plans. Of those, two expressed a positive attitude toward the bus purchase, five appeared neutral and 21 commentors expressed a negative attitude toward the purchase.
Three members of the public attended the meeting and all expressed negative sentiments about the purchase of an electric bus.
One speaker, Zach Taylor, of Taylor Transportation, expressed several concerns. He worried about the longevity of the bus’s battery and he also pointed out that the Blue Bird bus has an airbrake system, something no one in town is currently licensed to operate.
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