We can appreciate a school district that takes care of its equipment, and in the case of school buses, gets every mile possible out of its fleet, but there is such a thing as the end of the road for a vehicle, especially those that went into service during the Bush administration, the George H.W. Bush administration.
The Arlington School District will return to the voters on Feb. 10, requesting a two-year, $3 million levy that will allow the district to purchase 26 new buses, replacing about half of a fleet that currently is the oldest school bus fleet in the county, as Herald Writer Kari Bray reported Wednesday. The district’s oldest bus has been in service for 28 years, since 1987. And it’s not an outlier; 15 of the district’s buses have been in service for 20 years or longer. It’s highest mileage bus, in service since 1991, has logged 366,028 miles.
The levy, which would expire after two years, would raise $1.5 million each in 2016 and 2017, levying 43 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value in 2016 and 41 cents in 2017. For a median priced home, $184,300 in the Arlington School District, the levy would add $79.25 and $75.56, respectively, to a taxpayer’s property tax bill.
A similar measure in November sought a 49-cent per $1,000 levy but fell about 200 votes short, receiving 48 percent approval. A simple majority is needed to pass the levy.
It’s a fair question to ask how the district ended up with the oldest fleet in the county. Andrea Conley, the district’s public information coordinator explained that growth in the district required it to build a new high school and two new elementary schools in recent years. Not wanting to load tax bills with a bus levy on top of school construction bonds, the district chose to wait until the bonds were closer to being paid off, she said.
Approval of the levy would accomplish three things: provide better value for the district and its taxpayers, cleaner air and most importantly, a safer ride for the 4,800 fleet miles driven daily, taking students to and from school, field trips and sporting events.
While the district does its best to maintain its buses, those buses more than 12 years old, beyond the state’s recommended service life, break down more frequently and cost more than two-and-half-times more to maintain than its newer buses. And money spent to maintain the older buses is that much less that can be spent in the classroom.
Those buses that have exceeded the state’s recommended service life, 12 years for larger buses, eight for smaller, also are considered fully depreciated by the state and are no longer eligible for state depreciation refunds, funding which the district has used to add buses to its fleet as the district’s student population grew. Of the school district’s fleet, 25 buses are fully depreciated and five more are on their final year of depreciation.
Advances in pollution control mean new buses will help keep the air cleaner in Arlington. The older buses emit twice the pollution per mile as a semi-truck. Buses built to meet the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s 2010 standards are 95 percent less polluting than buses built before 2007 and are 60 times cleaner than those built before 1991.
Regarding safety, new buses offer higher padded seat backs to protect children, more emergency exits, stronger body construction, better visibility for the driver, better traction control and anti-lock brakes.
In the interests of taxpayer value, cleaner air and student safety, we urge a yes vote on Feb. 10 by Arlington School District voters to keep the wheels on the bus going round and round.
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