At a press conference at the South Carolina State House, Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman addressed ongoing concerns with the state-owned school buses. She outlined her plan to overhaul its current makeup to improve both safety and efficiency.
“As state superintendent my top priority has and will always be the safety of our students. That starts each morning when the bus arrives and ends when the bus drops students off,” Spearman said on Monday. “We can no longer wait to address the needs of our state’s student transportation system. I am committed to working tirelessly with our state’s leaders to ensure students have safe and reliable transportation for years to come.”
Since the 1950s, South Carolina has owned, operated, fueled and maintained the fleet of school buses that transport students to and from its public schools. Currently, the state utilizes 5,582 school buses that traveled more than 82.2 million miles last year.
Spearman noted that for many years, the state’s bus fleet has been one of the oldest in the nation. Currently, 50 percent of the fleet, or 2,805 buses, are older than 15 years. The manufacture dates of the buses span nearly 30 years, from 1988 to 2016.
Despite the general assembly’s good intentions by passing Act 79, which mandated a 15-year replacement cycle, Spearman said funding has been episodic and heavily impacted by the recession. The replacement cycle also does not account for the high level of student growth that is occurring in many areas of the state.
Spearman said that older buses, particularly those manufactured from 1995-1996 that account for 45 percent of the total bus fleet, are in dire need of replacement. The ongoing maintenance needs of these buses in addition to their higher fuel consumption means that they are more than twice as costly to operate per mile compared to newer models.
To address these ongoing concerns, Spearman asked the general assembly to fund the replacement of over 1,000 of the problematic 20-plus-year-old buses. She has also worked alongside State Treasurer Curtis Loftis and the general assembly to put into place the first ever lease to purchase program for school buses which she is advocating to continue to utilize moving forward.
“As a taxpayer, I thank Superintendent Spearman for being tenacious in her search for the lowest cost financial solution in providing newer, safer school buses for our children,” Loftis said.“The state treasurer’s Master Lease Program allows her to have 175 buses immediately instead of being phased in over five years. The reduced financial and operating costs will save the state millions, and our school children and bus drivers will be safer.”
In addition to funding for the replacement of the aging fleet, Spearman said she is also asking the general assembly to fund baseline salary increases for bus drivers and bus shop technicians who are difficult to recruit and retain, and are often paid lower salaries than their counterparts at other agencies.
