Tucson Unified School District will lease-purchase 17 new buses under a plan approved Tuesday by its governing board.
There will be three 72-passenger buses and 14 buses for students with special needs, said the district’s purchasing director, Diana Kerfoot.
The decision to lease-purchase instead of make an outright purchase will save the district money in the long run, said TUSD Chief Financial Officer Ricky Hernández. Current buses will be traded in for the new fleet, which will cost about $635,000 annually for six years, he said.
By the time of the sixth payment to contractors, TUSD would then own the titles to all 17 buses, Hernández said. The district had previously allocated $650,000 in preparation for this purchase.
The new buses will have air conditioning and will better accommodate special needs students and students in wheelchairs, said district transportation director Martha Zamora.
“This is another big step in making sure that we have a fully modernized fleet,” said Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo.
Three TUSD students receive national scholarship
Jisue Choi, Rebecca Flach and Michael Wang of Tucson Unified’s University High are winners of the National Merit Scholarship.
They are among more than 1,200 national winners of this award, which is financed by colleges and universities. The students were selected by an official from a sponsor college.
Choi received her scholarship from Claremont McKenna College, Flach was awarded a scholarship from Olin College of Engineering, and Wang received his award from the University of Southern California.
The college-sponsored awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.
Teacher supply drive
Tucson Supplies Teachers, an annual supply drive hosted by Tucson Values Teachers, is now open to preK-12 teachers. It is the largest school supply drive in the region.
Teachers can sign up for a chance to receive a $100 gift certificate to Jonathan’s Educational Resources by visiting www.TucsonValuesTeachers.org. Registration closes Sept. 30.
Tucson Values Teachers partnered with several local businesses to help support the drive.
ELL Group is donating $50 for every home sold between now and Sept. 30. Each referral it receives within this time period will double its donation. Unscrewed Theater collected donations for the drive throughout July.
