By Charlotte Matherly, contributor
Best practices dictate that school buses should be replaced every 12-15 years, or once they’ve logged 200,000 miles. In Rockingham County, half its fleet exceeds that age limit.
Chris Sours, the director of transportation for Rockingham County Public Schools, told the school board on Monday that it was time to develop a bus replacement plan, as directed by state policy.
Of the county’s 228 school buses, 110 are more than 15 years old, he said. At least 60 of those are more than 20 years old. With the aging fleet, Sours questioned whether maintenance costs are as effective as they could be and added that about 10 buses will soon need new engines.
“We just got quoted about $32,000 to replace an engine,” Sours said, “and the question is: do we want to put $32,000 into a bus that’s got 200,000 miles and is 22 years old?”
In his budget proposal, Superintendent Larry Shifflett included the purchase of eight new buses next year, totaling over $1 million.
Despite the fleet’s age, the transportation crew works to keep buses running smoothly. Jake Good, the shop foreman, said his team inspects each bus once every 30 days — one-third more often than is required.
“I’m not concerned about them being late. I’m concerned about it being safe. I’d rather them be an hour late and safe than on time and not safe” when it comes to vehicle maintenance, Good told the school board. “It costs us a lot of money to keep safety and stuff, but it’s what we got to do to keep the buses going.”
More money means more teachers
The school district plans to hire almost two dozen new teachers and staff next year and give out staffwide two-percent raises as part of its $201 million operating budget, a roughly 5.5% increase from this current year.
The investment comes as the school district takes on more students with language and learning needs than ever before. In just the past five years, Shifflett said, the number of English language learners has increased to 2,179 from 881 — a 147% increase. That outpaces the population of special education students, which increased 27% over the same time period.
Shifflett said he plans to fund the additional positions while cutting back on taxpayers’ share of education costs thanks to an influx of $11.8 million added to the county’s share of education aid from the state. More than half the budget, $111.3 million, is set to come from Virginia. This could change, as the governor’s proposed state budget is still under review by the House of Delegates and Senate.
Shifflett said he also plans to request $1.5 million less from county taxpayers this year, at $82.8 million.
At the same time, the school district is set to fund new purchases, like a new visitor check-in security system, and programs such as Junior ROTC at Broadway High School and an expansion of the Pleasant Valley Elementary School math teacher pilot program, which gives students specialized math instruction while giving homeroom teachers more lesson-planning time.
The school board plans to vote on the budget at its next meeting on March 23, with Shifflett scheduled to present his proposal to the county Board of Supervisors later that week.
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