The 2021 education SPLOST program included plans to buy 125 new school buses over five years. Henry County Schools approved its 2024 school bus purchase at their November meeting. This was the fourth of five annual purchases.
School Bus Purchase 2024
The school board will be buying 25 new buses from Yancey Bus Sales of Atlanta. The purchase will cost $3,844,100. From which, the state will reimburse the district $88,110. The remaining $3,755,990 will be out of E-SPLOST VI funds.
The purchase consists of seventeen 72-passenger propane-powered buses and eight 48-passenger gasoline-powered buses. All buses have air conditioning.
The district usually receives delivery of new buses around the end of the school year. They will place the new buses into service in August 2025.
E-SPLOST VI Bus Purchases
This year’s bus purchase brings the total number of buses purchased to 108, thanks to E-SPLOST VI. This includes purchases each year from 2021 to now. There will be one more bus purchase in November 2025.
Voters will consider approving education SPLOST VII in 2026. Though it’s pre-mature to have a project list, one can reasonably expect additional bus purchases will be part of it.
New Bus Facility
In addition, Henry County Schools is nearing completion of its new bus facility. The new bus garage, entitled Transportation Services West, will be off Nail Drive in McDonough. This is on the west side of I-75.
The new facility will allow the district to split service into east and west operations. The westside facility will primarily serve the Dutchtown, Eagle’s Landing, Hampton, and Luella school clusters, as well as a portion of the Exceptional Student Education (ESE) program.
The facility is slated to open in spring 2025. It can support 218 buses and 150 drivers. Construction is paid for by E-SPLOST VI. The project costs are about $19.5 million.
Featured image shows school buses. Henry County Schools photo.
