Stevensville faculty will get main journey bus improve

by Jon Konen

In cash-strapped faculty districts, when a big journey bus with contemporary decals seems round city, it’s pure for folks to ask the place that cash got here from, particularly when districts are additionally working to enhance salaries, replace curriculum, and preserve amenities. 

Montana’s faculty finance system is advanced, and each greenback we spend displays authorized necessities and group priorities. District funds are divided into particular “pots,” every ruled by state and federal legal guidelines that strictly restrict how they can be utilized. Some funds can solely be spent on transportation, whereas others on instruction or operations. 

At the identical time, prices proceed to rise throughout practically each class, from utilities to curriculum. Like households and companies, faculty districts should make cautious, accountable selections inside these constraints. 

Recently, one in every of our exercise journey buses suffered a significant mechanical failure. The value to exchange the engine and make it roadworthy exceeded the price of substitute. This marked the fourth breakdown previously 12 months that left our scholar groups stranded alongside the freeway. Student security should all the time come first. 

One of the “pots” of cash that every one colleges can entry is the bus depreciation or substitute fund. This fund permits a faculty district to exchange getting older or unsafe buses. Numerous components permit a faculty district to slowly develop this fund and Stevensville has been doing this for a number of years to arrange to exchange a journey bus. Using these restricted funds, we selected to not buy a brand-new bus, however as an alternative a high-quality used journey bus with considerably extra storage and security options than a transformed faculty bus. 

The new (used) journey bus arrived in Stevensville this week. It is a 2015 Prevost with simply over 500,000 miles on the engine. Prevost engines are designed to exceed 1,000,000 miles, and the metal body is rated for about 1.5 to 2 million miles. We bought it for a little bit over $244,000. It involves us with a brand new wrap on the surface with our logos, in addition to newly refurnished seat covers and fabric inside. New Prevost buses sometimes value over $1 million and are extensively considered the highest journey buses within the trade. 

Stevensville has not used our restricted bus fund since 2019 and is happy to now make this funding, to securely serve our college students and packages for a few years to come back. 

Thanks for sharing a pleasant wave as you move our college students on the freeway. Go Jackets! 

Jon Konen is superintendent for the Stevensville School District.