Fewer than half of Alabama school buses have air ...

The Alabama State Board of Education may ask the Alabama Legislature for money to add air conditioning to state school buses, most of which lack it.

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At the September 14 Board meeting, members of the state Board considered asking for a one-time supplemental bill to add buses to districts most in need.

&#;One of the things we might encourage on top of the budget is to say, &#;You know what, we&#;d like to have another one-time flow of money into fleet renewal with a focus on getting rid of buses that don&#;t have air conditioning,&#;&#; said Eric Mackey, state superintendent.

Only 48% of buses in the state have air conditioning, according to Alabama State Department of Education data. Chad Carpenter, transportation specialist for the ALSDE, said in a interview that buses can get 20 degrees hotter than the air outside.

Carpenter compared school buses to passenger cars and said that, when he was a kid, his parents had options between buying cars with or without air conditioning. Many people bought cars without air conditioning because it was cheaper. Then, as technology advanced, air conditioning became cheaper and then standard.

&#;I wouldn&#;t be real surprised if air conditioning on school buses doesn&#;t become pretty standard in the next few years,&#; he said.

Last summer was the hottest season since , according to NASA. Josh Willis, climate scientist and oceanographer at NASA&#;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, attributed the heat to long term warming and marine heat waves in combination with the weather pattern known as El Nino, in which the surface waters in central and eastern Pacific are warmer than usual. 

Alabama&#;s hottest summer, until , had been in , according to Weather Underground.

Mackey said at the board meeting that all special education buses in the state are legally required to have air conditioning and that has been the law for some time.

&#;It&#;s not a new requirement,&#; he said. &#;I won&#;t say for sure there&#;s not one somewhere, but I&#;d be really surprised if there&#;s a special ed bus in the state that is not air conditioned.&#;

According to data provided by the Alabama State Department of Education, only a few school districts or charter schools had zero buses on route with air conditioning in the -23 school year. 

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Daleville City, with 14 routes, has no buses on route with air conditioning. Elba City has four bus routes and no buses with air conditioning. Fairfield City has seven bus routes and no buses with air conditioning. Jacksonville City has 16 bus routes and no buses with air conditioning. Orange Beach City has three bus routes and no air conditioning on buses. Troy City has two bus routes and no buses with air conditioning. Tuscumbia City has zero buses with air conditioning and one bus route. Life Academy has three bus routes and no air conditioning.

Under Alabama law code, city school systems can purchase school buses, but county school systems must provide transportation. City school systems and charter schools are only required to offer transportation for students served by special education, according to Al.com.

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, chair of the Senate Finance and Taxation Education committee, said that he has not heard any talk of supplemental funding for buses yet.

&#;At the legislative level, because we&#;re one of the last along the line of the appropriations process, it&#;s a little early to know whether that&#;s going to be a high priority request from the education community,&#; he said.

Mackey told board members they were able to get a one-time supplemental appropriation last year of around $130 million to buy new buses. Two districts, Wilcox County and Shelby County, were given the most funds to buy air conditioned buses, based on need. ALSDE data shows that Shelby has 18.73% of their buses air conditioned currently, or 59 on 319 bus routes. Wilcox has 62.16% of their buses air conditioned, or 23 on 37 bus routes.

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Post by dex » Sat Dec 05, 2:48 pm

The air con units don't really do much in buses anyway, on a day over 35 degrees, it's lucky to be under 30-32 inside a bus. Coachair systems work ok but the thermo kings (in my experience) require a lot of maintenance. I've seen one bus in 8 years that is constantly in the workshop for air con faults. Thursday it had new pullys, bearings and belts fitted, Friday it was back in the workshop with two mechanics inside the vehicle and it wasn't dropping below 38 inside, that's undercover.
Then there is a high failure rate thanks to drivers lowering the settings to 18 degrees, it pushes the unit beyond it's limits and the condensers freeze up or they spit belts on the compressors.
I always ran the air con or heater, but pax would open windows and make the air con/heater redundant. Some days I would turn it off if a few windows were open to avoid the air con packing up and waiting for another bus, also avoiding unnecessary strain on the vehicle in general. If I had my way, all bus windows would be tinted, it would greatly reduce the temperatures inside and put less strain on air cons.
Having said all that Paul, if the air con works, windows are shut, put it on.
If you have had the bus since sun up, run the air con in the morning and adjust the temp accordingly through the day, if the bus has been sitting in the yard all morning, they will always struggle to cool down in direct sunlight all day, especially since the doors are opening and closing all the time.

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