District 303 looks to replace seven buses

St. Charles Unit District 303 has determined it needs to replace seven full-size buses in its fleet for $605,500.

"Every year, we take a look at our bus fleet and determine how many, if any, buses need to be replaced," Assistant Superintendent for Business Services Justin Attaway told school board trustees at the board's Business Services Committee meeting Monday. "As we're looking this year, we found seven buses that we would like to replace."

The 2022 Blue Bird Vision 71 used passenger buses, which would cost $86,500 each, would come from Central States Bus Sales.

As Attaway told trustees, the buses would have low mileage.

"They meet all the requirements for the district," Attaway said.

In past years, the district traded in buses at the same time it replaced buses to reduce the cost. But the district has decided instead to salvage parts from those buses.

"We were going to get rid of seven International buses," he said. "And we still have several International buses in our fleet. So we are actually proposing keeping those buses, using them for parts and then scrapping whatever is left because, honestly, we believe the part value is higher than what we were going to get for a trade-in value. So this should save us money long term, but, obviously, it does nothing for our purchase price here."