New school buses might be in the future for Dallas County Schools.

Dallas County Superintendent of Education Don Willingham announced his plans to meet with Jerry Lassiter, the director of transportation with the Alabama Department of Education, Wednesday to discuss getting a new fleet of buses for the county school system during the Dallas County board meeting Monday night. Funding for the buses would all stem from the Alabama Fleet Renewal Assistance Program.

“It’s important we address this” Willingham said. “We don’t want to put ourselves in a bind.”

There is no requirement to retire school buses after so many years in the state of Alabama, but the Alabama State Department of Educations’ transportation department will give $6,000 per year for each bus 10 years old of less, according to the Alabama Department of Education’s website. The website also states that once a bus is beyond 10 years old, no money is allotted to refinance it.

“Ideally you can take all the money you get from those buses and financially keep as many of those 10 year or younger that you can get,” Willingham said.

Willingham said about 24 Dallas County School buses are about to surpass the year for eligibility for the Alabama Fleet Renewal Assistance Program, therefore he plans to get those replaced.

“We don’t want to get caught having 20-something buses get off the fleet renewal eligible for $6,000 a year,” Willingham said.

More than 96% of Alabama’s school buses are ten years old or less, according to the state department’s website.

Willingham said the school district is behind on getting new buses since leadership years did not take the advantage of the opportunity to get new buses for students.

“Several superintendents ago, there was a void where none [buses] were purchased,” Willingham said. “We got way behind.”

The details of the meeting and plans on how the board will move forward with the new purchases will be discussed the next Dallas County School board meeting, which is scheduled for April 18 at 6:30 p.m. The location has not been announced.