School buses lacking A/C

$300 million bond issue would fund improvements

About 12 percent — or more than 100 — of the Mesa Public Schools buses in daily use are without air conditioning, a district spokeswoman said.

Faces red, gleaming with sweat: Luz Ortiz has become accustomed to the way her daughters greet her as they pile out of their Mesa school bus in Arizona’s extended summer months.

Mesa’s school year began Aug. 8, when temperatures crested at 103 degrees. Just a few days earlier, the high was 114.

Arizona’s mid-August climate isn’t shocking, but most residents ride out the season with air-conditioning.

That’s not the case for all Mesa Public Schools students. About 12 percent of buses in daily use are without air conditioning, a district spokeswoman said.

The nearby Gilbert, Tempe Elementary, Chandler and Higley school districts do not share this problem: their entire fleets are air-conditioned, officials said.

Mesa, the state’s largest school district with about 64,000 students, is asking voters in November to approve a $300 million bond issue, a chunk of which would ensure all buses are airconditioned, officials said.

48 routes with no A/C

Ortiz’s daughters both attend Whittier Elementary in northwest Mesa. She started noticing her oldest daughter Madison’s red, sweaty face a few years ago.

“It started happening more and more,” she said. “I asked her, ‘Does the bus have fans or air conditioning?’ She said there was just one small fan.”

More than 106 of Mesa’s 541 school buses do not have air conditioning, district spokeswoman Heidi Hurst said. That equates to 48 of 402 daily assigned route buses, or 11.9 percent.

Hurst specified that the district’s special education fleet is entirely air-conditioned.

Buses without air-conditioning are dispatched on the shortest routes possible, said Scott Thompson, assistant superintendent of business and support services.

“Obviously, this time of year is just a really hard time with the humidity and the heat,” he said.

Ortiz’s daughter Madison is now in fifth grade and her youngest daughter, Shyissa, is in seventh grade. The 10-minute ride to Whittier isn’t long, but it’s packed with 60 to 75 kids, Ortiz said.

“I understand that it’s a short ride,” she said. “But we live in a desert, it’s 110, 115 degrees.”

Funding bus repairs

Mesa’s school district has long struggled with balancing funding for repairs in schools and buses. In 2012, 138 of Mesa’s 500 school buses lacked air conditioning, making this year’s numbers a mild improvement.

The school board scaled down its bond request to voters that year from the recommended amount of $285 million to $230 million, removing some planned repairs to buses. The bond still allowed for about $7.5 million to buy 91 propanepowered, air-conditioned buses.

But those millions didn’t allow the district get rid of all buses without air conditioning and the fleet is aging: 240 buses are more than 15 years old, Thompson said.

With the 2012 bond money, he said the district had to prioritize specialeducation buses in need of repair.

This year, the district is asking voters to approve a $300 million bond issue to address long-needed bus and school repairs. Of the $300 million, Thompson said the district is asking for $46 million to replace a little more than half of Mesa’s fleet. That would ensure all buses are cooled.

Keeping buses — and kids — cool

Ortiz said she called the school and officials in charge of the buses to no avail. She sends her daughters with bottles of water, but they told her they’re not allowed to drink on the bus or open the window.

Thompson said it’s likely a driver chastised them for trying to open the windows while the bus is in motion. Riders have to stay in their seats while the bus is moving, he said. They can open windows when the bus is stopped, however, and are encouraged to do so in a bus without air-conditioning.

He added that riders are also encouraged to drink water, and it’s possible something was lost in translation when Ortiz’s daughters were told they couldn’t.