Austintown gets grant to replace old school buses

Austintown gets grant to replace old school buses

AUSTINTOWN

Austintown school officials announced Thursday that the district was awarded $1,070,880 to replace 14 old diesel-fueled buses with propane-fueled buses.

Colleen Murphy, director of transportation, told the board of education that the district received the grant funds from the Ohio EPA’s Ohio Diesel Emissions Reduction Grant Program.

“This is going to be a huge cost saver because these buses will all be under warranty,” Murphy said.

Murphy and her transportation department began applying for the grant in January and asked to replace 20 of the 40 district buses. The new buses will replace older ones that are from 1989-1997.

“Our fleet is very old,” Murphy said. “We struggle all the time to try and replace the buses.”

Murphy was very excited to make the announcement because of the cost in