Hillsborough County Superintendent Jeff Eakins emailed parents late Monday afternoon notifying them that he plans to ask the Board of Education to buy 200 new school buses at the board’s meeting next week.
It comes after a crash last week, in which a bus carrying 27 students ran off the road and into a pond.
None of the children were seriously injured.
The crash is still under investigation by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
The I-Team has been reporting on Hillsborough County Schools' aging bus fleet for the past two years.
As we reported last week, the bus involved in the accident was a 1995 model, with nearly 300,000 miles.
If the school board approves the purchase of the 200 new buses, it would take all of the 1994-1997 model year buses out of the fleet, making the oldest bus 18 years old.
Currently the oldest bus is 21 years old.
The district plans to replace 100 buses each year, eventually making the oldest bus in the fleet 14 years old.
The average bus age would be seven years, making it one of the newest fleets in the state.
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