The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is accepting applications to receive subsidy for new school buses purchased through the Maine School Bus Purchase Program. The application period is November 1 through November 25, 2021.
The Maine DOE will be able to approve about $9 million in school bus allocations that combines new bus requests and the prior year bus term commitment. Round one applications will be accepted for school buses proposed to be purchased during fiscal year 2022-2023.
This program provides subsidy to school administrative units (SAUs) in order to offset partial costs of new school buses that are used to transport students to and from home and school and school events. This program is a resource to help SAUs purchase new school buses, retire end of life school buses, and respond to emergency and special bus needs.
With the exception of Section 3.1, eligible vehicles must meet Code of Maine Regulations Chapter 85 minimum qualifications.
The School Bus Purchase Program instructions and information are available on the Maine DOE’s NEO dashboard. To fill out an application, SAU staffs must log in to NEO.
If you have questions about the Maine School Bus Purchase Program, please contact Pat Hinckley, Transportation and Facilities Administrator at pat.hinckley@maine.gov.
If you need help logging into NEO, contact Maine DOE Helpdesk at medms.helpdesk@maine.gov or 207-624-6896.