We already know what the excuses will be from MCPS' public information office. So, let's get the facts out right away. MCPS will still fib to the Board of Education and the public, but readers of this blog will know the truth.
1. MCPS buys approximately 120 school buses each year. School buses have a 12 year useful life in Maryland and 1/12th of the fleet is replaced each year. MCPS has in total about 1,400 school buses. (Annual expenditure $15M - $17M for 2016-2019.)
2. Superintendent Monifa McKnight is bringing a Resolution before the Board of Education on Thursday, October 12, 2023, to purchase 90 diesel school buses for $14,749,919.
3. Remember that the Board of Education has already approved a scheme to transition the entire school bus fleet to electric school buses.
4. By FY 2024 the annual MCPS purchase of 120 school buses was to be for only electric school buses as specified in the executed Transportation Equipment Services Agreement. (Image shown above.)
4. Remember that the MCPS nationally lauded electric school bus scheme was to be BUDGET NEUTRAL.
5. Remember that the Parents' Coalition asked for the numbers that showed the electric school bus scheme was budget neutral and we were told that no such documents existed.
6. Supposedly, MCPS just bought 64 special education diesel school buses in 2022. Well, the Resolution didn't say that that the diesel buses were for special education use, but that was the story that the MCPS public information officer told the press when pressed for an explanation.
7. And this is IMPORTANT! THERE ARE VENDORS WHO MAKE AND PROVIDE SPECIAL EDUCATION WHEELCHAIR LIFT ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUSES. (MCPS likes to say there is no such vendor. That is a lie.)
The Resolution before the Board of Education this week does not explain why MCPS suddenly needs to purchase 90 special education school buses on top of the 64 special education school buses they supposedly purchased last year.
If the Board of Education spends $14.8 million this week on 90 special education school buses, they will only be able to add about 33 electric school buses to their fleet based on their annual school bus budget. (We are guessing at the exact number of electric school buses because it is a complete mystery as to what the cost of one electric school bus is under the Board of Education's scheme.)
No matter what is going on at MCPS with regard to the annual replacement of school buses the following are clear:
1. The Board of Education's "budget-neutral" electric school bus scheme is no longer "budget neutral." The Board of Education can't possibly transition to an all-electric school bus fleet while continuing to buy diesel school buses and claim the scheme is budget neutral.
2. The MCPS nationally touted transition to an electric school bus fleet has been derailed.
With the PC, we wouldn't know about any of this. Thank you for your tireless efforts in exposing the truth.
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