Highlights of the MCPS District of Operations Letter to the Montgomery County Council
On September 25th, the MCPS Office of District Operations sent a letter to the Montgomery County Council regarding the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) report on their management of the electric school bus contract with Highland. The letter highlights some of the inconsistencies that Highland has already noted about the OIG report, including:
- “The contract with Highland Electric Fleet was the first of its kind for a public school system at the size and scale of MCPS to electrify a school bus fleet”
- “Nationwide, there were supply chain issues that impacted MCPS”
- “With this being a unique contract and the first of its kind, coupled with multiple school system leadership changes, it had an impact on the appropriate and efficient management of the contract”
Regarding the order of 90 diesel special education-type buses (at the reported cost of $14.7 million) and the perception that these were ordered due to delivery delays is inaccurate. As the letter states:
- “The electric school bus for special education vehicle types that MCPS requires would be the first of its kind and are still in the prototype phase of testing”
- “Capability to meet our operational requirements and reliability to transport students with disabilities are questions that MCPS considered when amending the electric bus order and placing the order for diesel buses”
- “The bus order was not additional spending in the MCPS operating budget”
- “There was a corresponding reduction of 90 electric buses on the contract in FY2025 to allow for available funding to be reserved for 90 diesel buses, ultimately yielding savings in the operating budget”
- To-date, the special-education diesel buses have not been delivered, so the district has not spent any funds on them (funding will be expended upon receipt of the buses)