Four Southeast Ohio school districts will share $256,035 in state grant money to make their school buses safer, State Representative Mark Johnson of Chillicothe announced in a news release from the Ohio House of Representatives.
The awards from the Ohio School Bus Safety Grant Program go to the Logan-Hocking Local School District in Hocking County, which receives $52,714; the Vinton County Local School District, which receives $20,412; the New Lexington School District in Perry County, which receives the largest of the four awards at $171,939; and the Zane Trace Local School District in Ross County, which receives $10,970, according to the Ohio House release.
“Keeping our kids safe is always the top priority, and this funding will help our school districts make important improvements to school bus safety,” Johnson said in the Ohio House news release. “It’s a smart investment in our children, our drivers, and our community’s peace of mind.”
The local awards are part of a $10 million statewide program the Ohio Legislature included in the state operating budget to help districts offset the cost of upgrading bus fleets with advanced safety equipment, according to the release. The Ohio School Boards Association has described the program, run through the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, as covering the repair, replacement or addition of authorized safety features on buses already in service, as well as safety enhancements on new bus purchases.
Districts have flexibility in how they use the money. According to the Ohio House release, schools may build safety enhancements into new buses or add safety technology to buses currently carrying students, under guidelines meant to let each district put the funding where it best promotes safety in its own fleet.
The program grew out of the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group, which Gov. Mike DeWine convened to inspect student transportation and make data-driven recommendations, and every district that applied for assistance with eligible equipment received an award, the release said.
What happens next is in the districts’ hands: Logan-Hocking, Vinton County, New Lexington and Zane Trace will each choose the safety upgrades that fit their fleets — on buses already on the road, on buses they buy next, or both — and put the state money to work for the students who ride them every school day.