Board approves purchasing three buses

NEW LONDON – The New London Board of Education has approved the purchase of three new school buses for a total cost of $448,109, with the funds coming from the district’s 2026-27 budget.
The approval came at the board’s Feb. 11 meeting. As part of the approval, the three buses will be purchased from Ascendance Truck Centers and will be International buses. The total cost of $448,109 would decrease if the district trades in any buses as part of the transaction. The buses are scheduled to arrive in August or September.
At the meeting, Joe Marquardt, SDNL business services director, told the board that school bus purchases are an annual discussion that the board has.
“School buses are expensive, as you can see,” Marquardt said, adding that it is important for the district to have a “quality fleet” of buses to get students to and from school.
Marquardt said a request for proposal (RFP) is sent out every year to ensure that the district has quality bids in which the district receives the best price possible.

The RFP were sent out in December, and the district received bids from Ascendance Truck Center for International buses and from Nelson’s Bus Service, Inc. for Thomas buses. He added that the district has a mechanic who can work on different brands of buses, as well as drivers who can drive different brands of buses.
The bid from Ascendance Truck Center was $149,370 per bus, while the bid from Nelson’s Bus Service was $153,475 per bus, a difference of $4,106 per bus. Marquardt said that the trade-in value that the district would receive would also be greater by going with Ascendance Truck Center. The district would receive $84,000 for a trade-in with Ascendance Truck Center compared to $75,000 for a trade-in with Nelson’s Bus Service.
Because of that, Marquardt said district administration was recommending the purchase of three International buses from Ascendance Truck Center.

District’s fleet
Board Vice President Katie Batten asked Marquardt if the district has noticed a negative impact on its bus fleet since the district decided to keep its buses longer before replacing them. According to the Topic Summary Sheet (TSS) in the board packet, in 2014-15, the district moved from a 6-year replacement cycle to a 7-year replacement cycle for its buses. In 2023-24, the district moved from a 7-year replacement cycle to an 8-year replacement cycle. In 2024-25, the district moved to a replacement schedule of 100,000 miles.

Currently the district owns 16 Thomas buses and 12 International buses. The buses that would be replaced with new buses include a 10-year-old bus and two 9-year-old buses with approximately 100,000 miles on them.
Marquardt said the district hasn’t noticed any negatives but added that the value of the district’s fleet of buses continues to decrease while the cost of a new bus continues to increase.
“That residual gap that we were achieving in our prior purchases is growing,” Marquardt said. “There’s also inflationary pressure that we’re all seeing in the world.”
He added that fewer school districts or individuals want to purchase a used bus that has more than 100,000 miles on it. Due to that, Marquardt said the district may have to consider not putting more than 100,000 miles on a bus before replacing it. But that would be influenced by the district’s budget.
“We can’t prioritize purchasing buses over our true goal of instructing our students and having staff,” Marquardt said. “We will respond each year to what we need to, and hopefully we’re always able to make the right decision.”