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Board Approves $150→$175 Activity-Bus Fee, Directs Staff to Develop Replacement Plan
Summary
The board approved raising the activity-bus fee from $150 to $175 to fund GPS and offset rising costs; members also directed staff to develop a vehicle-replacement/rotation plan after staff reported a substantial portion of activity buses exceed recommended replacement thresholds.
The Rockingham County Board of Education voted to raise its activity-bus fee from $150 to $175 per trip/unit at its Aug. 6 meeting, with board members also directing staff to begin work on a replacement/rotation plan for older vehicles.
Transportation staff explained the fee increase would allow the district to fund GPS on activity buses and provide modest budgetary padding to offset rising operating costs. "It allows us to fully fund the GPS part of it and that's what we really want to pay for," one transportation presenter said.
Board members asked whether the state funds activity buses; staff clarified the state pays only for regular yellow-school buses, not activity buses, so activity-bus replacement and operating costs must be locally funded. Staff reported a portion of the activity fleet is old and recommended a replacement cadence (purchasing one bus every other year and two every other year thereafter to align with a 20-year/250,000-mile guideline), subject to building a dedicated fund.
A motion to approve the transportation fee schedule (with an addition that staff should develop a replacement plan) passed with board support.
