MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — For some time now the need for more school bus drivers has been a big topic of conversation for the Baldwin County School District and local board of education.

A driver shortage often forces school district Transportation Director Donald Tuft and even some of his mechanics to make runs on daily routes. But the employee shortage was not the main topic discussed when the BOE reached transportation portion of its agenda during Tuesday’s retreat. 

Tuft told board members there are 68 buses in the fleet and 60 are used in daily routes by the school district. Most of them are being utilized beyond their expectancy.

“Right now you see there are 36 buses in the hole by years of expectancy,” the transportation director said. “In the next five years, 22 more out of the 68 will need to be retired.”

Buses have different expectancies (eight, 10, or 14 years) based on the number of passengers they carry as mandated by the state. Tuft said Tuesday that once they get past that expectancy they should be used as backups and not on daily routes. Although that is the case, the state does inspect them at the start of the school year to ensure they are fit to carry passengers. Tuft said the buses passed inspection, but the ones over their expectancy have high mileage and need to be repaired often. The school district is putting together a plan to get the fleet up to date and lessen the $50,000 annual cost of repairs.

“There ought to be a systematic approach to replacing these buses so they don’t all come due at one time,” said BOE member Lyn Chandler. “If you replace all of these buses now, they’re all going to come due at the same time.”

How did the school district arrive in its current situation? The short answer is budget cuts from the state. Included in Georgia’s budget each year is money for bond buses for school districts. Tuft said Tuesday that Baldwin County got one bond bus last year and another this year that just arrived, but they “probably won’t” get a bus from the state next year. He added Baldwin County received five bond buses back in 2006.

School buses are anything but inexpensive at around $80,000 per unit depending on the size. The school district is utilizing E-SPLOST dollars to try and get the buses past their expectancy off daily routes. Three were purchased by the BOE and arrived at the transportation department recently, so it’s a start.

Some school districts have moved toward purchasing air conditioned buses as a recruiting tool to lure prospective drivers, but at an additional $8,000 to $10,000 per unit and added maintenance costs. Tuft said air conditioning is really only worth it for field trips and athletic away games. He added that a survey was done among his drivers who responded they would rather see increased pay than the school district buying air conditioned buses. 

Transportation employee Sheba Nelson said she would like to have a few buses with air conditioning solely for the purpose of athletic trips and school field trips. With all of that in mind a plan is being put in place to get the fleet up to date.

“What we’ll do is we’ll get together and come back with a recommendation to the board that would become part of the budget process at the March board meeting,” Baldwin County Schools Superintendent Dr. Noris Price said Tuesday.