Floyd County school board cuts bus order down to 27

The Floyd County Board of Education amended its recent school bus purchase order by reducing it to 27 buses for $2.5 million

Originally the purchase was going to be for 30 buses for $2.6 million. However, after running the numbers again, the total came out to $2.8 million.

Superintendent Glenn White said they changed it to 27 buses after hearing that Gov. Brian Kemp amended the state’s budget to include $40 million for 525 buses across the state.

He hopes to put in an order with the state for four buses, which would bring the number of new buses to 31.

“If the order goes in this week, we should have a July delivery date,” Facilities Manager Jack Gardner said.

The school system will be able to replace all buses 15 years or older. According to Gardner, they won’t have any buses older than 2009 and all of the daily regulareducation buses would be no older than 2012. The 27-bus purchase will come out of the school system’s general fund.

Board members also approved the calendar for the 2021-2022 school year.

The school year will begin on Aug. 5, with teachers starting their planning four days prior to that Thursday. The calendar was reviewed by the local school governance teams, teachers advisory board and multiple principals and assistant principals before it was brought to the board.

Board members also went into closed session at the end of caucus to discuss a property matter, but no action was taken.