County Schools Need Funding For Buses

The Coffee County Budget and Finance Committee members and school directors say greed and lobbying in the state Legislature are why Coffee County is being mandated to purchase new school buses instead of getting more life out of its old ones. Schools director Kenny Casteel reiterated last week the need for an additional $390,000 for three new school buses and increased fuel costs. The director stated that the school system will be retiring eight buses at the end of next spring, plus six more the following year, because they will reach the 200,000-mile limit imposed by the state legislature. Casteel said that the transportation director was doing his best to get by with only three new buses to replace the eight being retired.