The Mercer Island School District (MISD) has unveiled the new design for the school buses that it will be purchasing with the funds generated by the school transportation levy on next week’s ballot. The school board approved replacing the traditional school bus with a lightly-modified version of the Range Rover HSE, narrowly defeating an alternative proposal to subcontract the entire MISD transportation system to Uber.
“We’ve received feedback loud and clear from the parents of Mercer Island students,” announced MISD Assistant Director of Transportation Otto Buse. “Most Mercer Island children have only ridden in vehicles with leather seats, and there have been numerous complaints that the vinyl seats on the current school buses are chafing their delicate bottoms. Oh, yeah, and also something about seatbelts and airbags.”
Buse explained that community concerns about the additional cost of acquiring a fleet of Range Rovers are unwarranted, as MISD will be able to acquire lightly-used models from among the hundreds of Range Rovers that Mercer Island residents trade in every year. The new levy will enable MISD to purchase twice as many Range Rovers as are used on a daily basis, to account for the anticipated out-of-service rate of these vehicles.
While some Island residents complain that this new plan is a questionable use of tax dollars, Buse observed that “you can’t put a price on our children’s health and safety. Also, it will teach them the valuable lesson that sometimes in life you have to settle for being driven in a Range Rover.”
The Mercer Island Distorter reminds all voters that ballots for the upcoming special election must be dropped off in official King County ballot boxes or postmarked no later than Tuesday, February 9th.