An increasing number of Alabama school districts are making the move toward air-conditioned school buses. The Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) recently released data on the number of air-conditioned school buses during the 2022-23 school year. In all, Alabama has 7,904 operational school buses, and 3,815 of them are air conditioned. This means more than 48% of all school buses in the state now have air conditioning. Out of Alabama’s 144 school districts, more than 60 have at least 75% of their buses air conditioned. And 47 districts have fully air-conditioned bus fleets. These districts include:
- County School Systems: Barbour, Bullock, Cherokee, Coffee, Colbert, Escambia, Lauderdale, Limestone, Macon, Madison, Russell
- City School Systems: Alexander City, Alabaster City, Anniston City, Arab City, Athens City, Birmingham City, Cullman City, Decatur City, Demopolis City, Eufaula City, Florence City, Fort Payne City, Guntersville City, Haleyville City, Homewood City, Huntsville City, Jasper City, Leeds City, Madison City, Mountain Brook City, Pelham City, Phenix City, Pike Road City, Saraland City, Sheffield City, Sylacauga City, Satsuma City, Trussville City, Vestavia Hills City, Winfield City
- Academies and Charter Schools: Accel Academy, i3 Academy, Breakthrough Charter School, Magic City Acceptance Academy, Empower Community School, Alabama Aerospace and Aviation
Chad Carpenter is the director of Pupil Transportation for ALSDE. Carpenter said the number of school districts air conditioning their buses is on the rise, and this is due to a number of reasons.
“I think, for one thing, the technology has come a long way, and they’re very effective,” he said. “Public interest in whether or not school buses have air conditioning [is another factor]. We get calls, especially during this time of year, from people all over the state. I also think superintendents talk to each other. If one says, ‘We’re buying 10 buses and getting them all with air conditioning,’ then the superintendent at another school system will talk to his board and ask, ‘Do you think we can also buy buses with air conditioning?’ I think it’s just a growing trend. And, just me personally, I think kids are not acclimated to the heat like people used to be. We all have air conditioners in our houses now. That was not the case years ago.”
While school districts may opt to air condition their buses for many reasons, chief among them is the need to protect both students and drivers from the heat. In fact, the Alabama Education Association (AEA) in 2019 conducted research among local school drivers showing just how hot it can become inside school buses. AEA’s “Stop the Heat” campaign revealed that some school buses got as hot as 124 degrees.
“It is simply too hot in Alabama not to have air conditioning on our school buses,” said AEA Executive Director Amy Marlowe in an online statement to Alabama Public Radio. “It still feels like summer well into the school year, and it can take over an hour for students and bus drivers to complete their routes. That is too long to be trapped in over 100-degree heat. Our members sent in the outrageous temperatures on their school buses, and it was clear AEA needed to do everything possible to ensure students and drivers were not putting their lives at risk for simply being on a school bus. Every student, bus driver and aide deserves a comfortable ride to and from school.”
ALSDE also reports more than 50 school districts have 25% or fewer buses with air conditioning, and eight school districts have no buses with air conditioning. These districts include:
- City School Systems: Daleville City, Elba City, Fairfield City, Jacksonville City, Orange Beach City, Troy City, Tuscumbia City
- Academies and Charter Schools: Life Academy
Carpenter said some districts air condition few or none of their buses for many different reasons.
“We have Life Academy, for example, which is a charter school. They only run three buses. They use a contractor, and it just so happens that those buses they’re using right now don’t have air conditioning,” he said. “[Districts like] Daleville City, Elba City and Fairfield City, these are small city systems that don’t have many buses anyways. They have short routes. That may be a part of their thinking is, ‘We’ve got a route that’s literally 15 minutes, and we drop kids off within the city limit. We may stop at a couple of apartment complexes and drop 20 to 30 kids off at each location.’ In those types of settings, the routes aren’t as long and, therefore, kids aren’t on the bus for an extended amount of time. That may be part of their thought process.”
Despite their individual differences, Carpenter said most school districts struggle to air condition their buses for one reason: the price point. He said installing air conditioning can cost upwards of $10- to $12,000 per school bus.
“Everything’s about money. We can say it’s not, but it is. If air conditioners were free, every bus in the state would have air conditioners in them right now,” he said. “I’m sure every superintendent in the state, in their defense, would love to have every bus in their fleet with air conditioning. But they’re trying to manage a budget. Some school systems have more of a tax base than others, so they’re able to afford some of the things that other school systems can’t. That is, really, the only determining factor. The maintenance is another thing. Anytime you add something like air conditioning, that’s something else that could tear up. Even if a bus is equipped with air conditioning, it can have issues.”
Alabama does offer some financial assistance for districts struggling to purchase school buses. The state’s fleet renewal program helps fund the purchase of newly purchased school buses over a 10 year period. Buses must be used for regular morning and afternoon routes and be 10 years old or less. All funding is based on the cost of a bus without air conditioning, which means anything above and beyond that base cost will require local money to help close that gap. As of fiscal year 2024, ALSDE is paying $7,581 for every bus in the program.
“The fleet renewal program does not pay for every penny of that bus, but the cost of buses have gone [up], I would say, 30 to 40% in the last few years. A regular bus is, now, probably $120,000 for a school system,” Carpenter said. “You can imagine the struggles that school systems have to balance the budget and purchase a base bus, much less adding another $10- to $12,000 on every bus that they purchase for air conditioning.”
However, Marlowe said the state needs to introduce more funding opportunities within the state’s budget.
“New buses normally cost between $80,000 and $100,000, and it typically costs around $10,000 to retrofit one of those buses with air conditioning,” she said in an online statement to APR. “AEA will continue to advocate for more funding from the Alabama Legislature to mitigate these costs and make it easier for school districts to upgrade their full fleets with air conditioned buses.”
Carpenter said ALSDE does help fund for school buses in its yearly budget. The department’s projected budget for fiscal year 2025 is more than $500 million for transportation, but it is unknown just how of much of that funding will go toward air conditioning school buses.
“The state is funding as well as it can, in my opinion. You’re talking about a lot of taxpayer money. If money was not an object and if the state had money flowing out of its ears and could fund transportation, it would be a different story,” Carpenter said. “The bottom line is taxpayer money is going towards this, and, no matter what, it costs the taxpayers money to upgrade these buses to equip them with things such as air conditioning.”
State law does not require school districts air condition some or all school buses, but ALSDE does require all buses with wheelchair lifts have air conditioning for students with disabilities. ALSDE also has the authority to set minimum specifications for school buses. The department’s Spec. Committee includes members of ALSDE as well as transportation directors and shop foreman from various local school systems. Each year, the committee and state make and amend requirements for every school bus in the state, including the kind of fuel source, tires, rims and motors school districts should use in their buses as well as the location of bus lifts for evacuations and other emergencies.
“The Spec. Committee has not required air conditioning for regular buses. There’s no recommendation or mandate [in writing] from the state that says the school system must purchase a minimum number of buses for regular routes with air conditioning,” Carpenter said. “State officials have looked at it and said, ‘It’s going to be left up to the school system.’ Some of them have been able to come up with local funds to pay for some of that. What most of them are doing is sprinkling in [air-conditioned buses] into their fleet as they buy new buses. There’s no reason for us to mandate that because the numbers really have grown. I can’t even tell you the number of buses with air conditioners in the state, just in the last couple of years.”
In response, Marlowe said the state should require all buses be air conditioned, with or without wheelchair lifts.
“Current state law only requires the buses for students with special needs be equipped with air conditioning, but anyone on a bus reaching 124 degrees will feel the health and safety implications associated with the heat,” Marlowe said in her online statement. “[About] 41 districts already have 100% of their buses air conditioned, and AEA will continue to advocate for fleet funding with the Alabama Legislature until all districts reach 100%.”
Marlowe said not only would a state mandate positively impact the students; it would also impact the drivers.
“Excessive heat can exacerbate many health conditions and also effect students in the
classroom,” she said. “It is difficult to pay attention to what your teacher is saying or answer a test question correctly when you are trying to cool off from the bus ride. High heat can also cause irritability, which not only causes issues in the classroom but can create behavioral problems that bus drivers need to deal with in the moment. Nothing should be distracting them from getting Alabama’s children to and from school safely. By investing in air conditioning on school buses, not only can these problems be avoided, but it will also help systems curb bus driver staff shortages.”
To beat the heat, Carpenter said there are several ways school districts can keep their buses cool, including opening the bus’s front and rear vents to allow for more airflow from the front to the back of the bus.
“If a bus sits out in the middle of a parking lot just in the sun for hours, it’s going to build up heat. If a school system can find a place where buses can park in the shade until they load in the afternoon, that would significantly help. But this is not easily done. The bus is 40 feet long and eight feet wide. It’s hard to find a place for every bus to park in the shade,” he said. “Tinted windows help. We sent out a memo to school systems advising them to provide water on the buses for their students and ways to do that. We’re in the South. It’s extremely hot. We’re loading kids at three o’clock in the afternoon and transporting them. That’s really close to the hottest part of the day.”
Ultimately, Marlowe said the best solution for this ongoing problem is increased state funding for air conditioned buses.
“Many students rely on buses for transportation to and from school, and our dedicated bus drivers can only do so much on their own to stop the heat,” she said. “Many have said they pass out water bottles and vent the windows to keep the temperature down, but this isn’t enough in the Alabama heat. As we are currently dealing with a heat advisory, imagine the temperature currently on a bus without air conditioning. It is unbearable. By requiring air-conditioned buses, student safety will be protected, and bus drivers will be more willing to remain in the profession.”
Carpenter said more and more school districts each year are retrofitting or purchasing buses with air conditioning, a trend he anticipates to continue.
“I foresee in the near future that basically every bus in the state of Alabama is going to have air conditioning at some point. It’s like when you used to purchase a car. You would have to get certain things on that car and pay extra, but now it kind of comes standard. I think air conditioning is going to be the same way, and it already is to some degree,” he said.
