'Smart' school bus program dead in NC, $4M relinquished by state board

The State Board of Education voted Thursday to relinquish $4 million in unused funding for a "smart" school bus safety pilot program in North Carolina.

"This is one that did not get significant support from the districts," board vice chairman Alan Duncan told fellow board members.

The Legislature authorized the program in 2020 to “transform and improve the transportation of public school students through technology in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The first school system in the state to launch the pilot program was Mt. Airy, which installed technology to check students’ temperatures.

The program also equipped school buses with tracking devices and some with Wi-Fi internet systems. After the pilot program funds were exhausted, local districts would have to maintain and replace the equipment with their money over time.

Districts feared it would create "an ongoing financial burden," Duncan said.

Statewide, $18.1 million in grants were awarded for the program, according to a recent report by the State Board of Education.

“Program participants were generally excited to receive additional funding to acquire these new capabilities and the necessary hardware and were also very pleased to be able to provide higher quality information and services to the parents and students they serve,” the report said. “Those implementing Wi-Fi reported that students have been able to use their time to complete homework while on the school bus.”

But in 2024, 14 school systems “voluntarily relinquished $3.3 million that they indicated they did not intend to expend,” the report stated.

Some complained about technical problems installing and using the new systems.

“The major concerns expressed related to cost-effectiveness and how school systems will sustain these new systems now that the additional funding source from the pilot program has been exhausted,” the report said. “If successful, these services may become expected by families and difficult to discontinue.”

"We will end up reverting approximately $4 million in total for this grant, which makes us all sad because we know how badly we could use that $4 million in other areas," Duncan told the board.