The Show Low School District board heard a detailed presentation on the district’s bus fleet and a proposed long-range replacement plan during its January meeting. Transportation supervisor Carrie Somerville told the board that recent improvements — including a repaired bus lift, upgraded on-bus camera systems, key-fob fuel tracking and a parts and inventory system — helped the district achieve full compliance with Department of Public Safety inspections for 2025.

“Every single bus we can tell you the exact dollar amount that goes into it,” Somerville said. She later reported that 22 of 22 vehicles passed DPS inspections this year, which she described as a marked improvement from prior years when some vehicles failed inspections.

Somerville laid out the criteria the district will use to decide when to replace yellow (student) buses: roughly 10–15 years of service, about 150,000–200,000 miles, rising maintenance costs (she cited a rule of thumb that maintenance costs exceeding 10–15% of a new bus’s cost indicate replacement should be considered), and changes in safety regulations that can render older buses out of compliance. She gave a ballpark purchase range for a new yellow bus of $180,000 to $230,000.

Board members and staff flagged an additional pressure point: 11 buses acquired under a 2019 grant will reach the end of their service windows around the same time. Somerville said the district’s long-range plan staggers replacements so the board will not face a single, very large capital outlay several years from now. “Rather than have to buy a whole bunch of vehicles at once, that would be the idea — a yearly replacement plan where we can sustain that,” she said.

The presentation also covered the white fleet (mini buses and vans used for field trips), which Somerville said is in good condition due to new in-district maintenance capacity. She said the district plans to add a special-needs route soon and expects to add an additional regular-education route in fall 2026 to serve Concho and Vernon as ridership increases. Somerville noted that parts availability for older buses is becoming a constraint and that parts costs have risen.

Board members praised the improvements and asked practical budgeting questions — including how tire rotation and replacement will be scheduled and how repair costs will be captured in future budgets. Several members credited new mechanics (including a white-fleet technician and a second mechanic for the yellow fleet) and district leadership for the improvements that raised the fleet to full DPS compliance.

The board did not take formal action on a capital purchase at the meeting; Somerville’s presentation and the board’s questions were presented as planning and budgeting guidance for future decisions.