Beacon City School District officials said on Tuesday the district has two electric buses on order and two chargers installed at the bus facility, but delivery and full use depend on commissioning the chargers and establishing a data connection.

The district's facilities staff reported that two wall-mounted chargers are in place inside the bus garage and a vendor has been contracted to provide the data feed that records battery performance, miles and other telematics. The vendor must complete the data installation and the district must commission the chargers before the bus manufacturer will deliver the buses, a district official said.

Administrators said the buses will be trialed on multiple routes to determine which runs are appropriate for the vehicles, testing variables such as range, whether buses can complete morning and afternoon runs without recharging, and whether midday charging is required. The district plans driver and emergency responder training with the bus vendor and local fire and rescue teams before the buses enter service.

Board members asked whether the district plans to expand electric buses beyond the two units. Administration said state policy requires schools to transition to electric buses by a future date that was described in the workshop as 2037; the district purchased two buses with voter-approved funding and noted that further expansion would require a capital project, electrical infrastructure upgrades from the utility and likely voter approval. The district's capital-planning consultant and Tetra Tech were cited as resources for planning larger facilities work.

Transportation staff also reported ongoing operational changes: streamlined field-trip scheduling via the ML Schedules form, discussion of outside-district runs with private carriers, a possible parent-driver recruitment push, new bus-driver pamphlets for local distribution, and enhanced training for drivers and monitors on student behavioral de-escalation and emergency scenarios.

Student representatives raised bus-driver pay as a factor in recruitment; the district noted it increased driver hourly rates last year but continues to face competition from private carriers. Administrators said they are pursuing multiple strategies to recruit more drivers, including outreach, marketing materials and training expansion.