In an effort to be cost-effective, the Warren County R-III School Board has approved leasing three buses for its early childhood special education program.
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In an effort to be cost-effective, the Warren County R-III School Board has approved leasing three buses for its early childhood special education program.
At its July meeting, the board voted unanimously to approve the lease of the buses from Santander.
The lease is for Type A buses. The total cost per year is $70,914. These buses will be under lease through the 2031-32 school year.
Because the agreement is for a lease rather than an outright purchase, the district is eligible for reimbursement, as explained by R-III Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith.
“We have a bus lease contract and I do not make the rules for bus leases for Early Childhood,” Klinginsmith said. “Under Early Childhood, you can be reimbursed for a lease, but you can’t if you purchase the bus.”
The money comes from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) as part of the state pupil transportation aid program.
“I don’t make the rules and it doesn’t make any sense to me,” continued Klinginsmith. “We would like to have someone else pay for the buses, so our last lease is up and this is a new lease for the next three years.”
“We have to put the money up front, but then we get it back,” Board member Franci Schwartz added.
Klinginsmith said that the new lease is an increase of roughly $67,000 over the lease that ran during the 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, but by making this agreement, the money is only lost up front and will be repaid to the district through the DESE program.
